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A MANUAL 



OF 



ANCIENT HISTORY, 

FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES 
TO THE FALL OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE. 

COMPRISING THE HISTORY OF 

Chaldcea^ Assyria, Media, Balfjlonia, 

Lydia, Phmiiicia, Syria, Judcsa, Egypt, Carthage, Persia, 

Greece, Macedonia, Pai'thia, and Pome. 

BY 

GEORGE- RAWLINSON, M.A., 

CAMDEN PROFESSOP ^-^ ANCIENT HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD. 



PRESENTED BY 

JUCGE and MSS. ISAAC 

WASHINGTON, 




NEW YORK: 

HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 

FRANKLIN SQUARE. 
187I. 






Gift 

Jn^igs 3n^ Mrs. I R. H|tt 

June -3 1936 



PREFACE 



The work here given to the public has been contem- 
plated b}^ the Author for several years. The "Hand- 
buch " of Professor Heeren, originally published in 1799, 
and corrected by its writer up to the year 1828, is, so far 
as he knows, the only modern work of reputation treating 
in a compendious form the subject of Ancient History 
generally. Partial works, i. e., works embracing portions 
of the field, have been put forth more recently, as, partic- 
ularly, the important " Manuel " of M. Lenormant {Manuel 
cTMstoire cmcienne de T Orient jiisqiCaux guerres Mediques. 
Paris, 1868-9; 3 vols. 12mo). But no work with the 
scope and on the scale of Professor Heeren's has, so far 
as the present writer is aware, made its appearance since 
1828. That work itself, in its English dress, is, he believes, 
out of print ; and it is one, so great a portion of which has 
become antiquated by the progress of historical criticism 
and discovery, that it can not now be recommended to the 
student, unless with large reserves and numerous cautions. 
Under these circumstances, it seemed to the present writer 
desirable to replace the " Handbuch " of Heeren by a Man- 
ual conceived on the same scale, extending over the same 
period, and treating (in the main) of the same nations. 

Heeren's Hand-book always appeared to him admirable 
in design, and, considering the period at which it was writ- 
ten, excellent in execution. He has been content to adopt, 
generally, its scheme and divisions ; merely seeking in ev- 



G . PREFACE. 

erj case to bring the history np to the level of our present 
advanced knowledge, and to embody in his work all the 
really ascertained results of modern research and discov- 
ery. He has not suffered himself to be tempted by the 
example of M. Lenormant to include in the Manual an ac- 
count of the Arabians or the Indians; since he has not 
"been able to convince himself that either the native tradi- 
tions of the former, as reported by Abulfeda, Ibn-Kbal- 
doun, and others, or the Epic poems of the latter (the 
Maha-Bharata and Ramaijana), are trustworthy sources of 
history. With more hesitation he has decided on not in- 
cluding in his present work the history of the Sassanidae, 
which is sufficiently authentic, and which in part runs par- 
allel with a period that the Manual embraces. But, on 
the whole, it appeared to him that the Sassanidse belonged 
as much to Modern as to Ancient History — to the Byzan- 
tine as to the Roman period. And, in a doubtful case, the 
demands of brevit}^, which he felt to be imperative in such 
a work as a Manual, seemed entitled to turn the scale. 

Oxford, Nov. 23, 18G9. 



CONTENTS 



INTRODUCTION. 

PAGB 

History. — History Proper, its divisions. — Ancient History, hoWbcst dis- 
tinguished from Modern. — Sources of History: 1. Antiquities; 2. 
Written Records, including («) Inscriptions, (b) Books. — Importance 
of Inscriptions. — Coins. — Books, ancient and modern. — Cognate sci- 
ences to History: 1. Chronology; 2. Geography. — Chief eras. — 
Chronological Monuments. — Works on Cln-onology. — Works on Ge- 
ography. — Modes of dividing Ancient History. — Scheme of the 
Work 13 



BOOK I. 

History of the Ancient Asiatic and African States and Kingdoms from 
the Earliest Times to the Foundation of the Persian Monarchy by Cy- 
rus the Great 24 



PART I.— Asiatic Nations. 

Preliminary Remarks on the Geography of Asia 2i 

Preliminaiy Observations on the General Character of the Early Asiatic 

Kingdoms 35 

History of the Ancient Asiatic Kingdoms previous to Cyrus 38 

I. Chaldrean Monarchy 39 

II. Assyrian Monarchy 41 

III. Median Monarchy 45 

IV. Babylonian Monarchy 48 

V. Kingdoms in Asia Minor : 1. Phrygia; 2. Cilicia ; 3. Lydia. 50 

VI. Phoenicia 52 

VII. Syria 58 

VIII. Judaja 51) 

a. From the Exodus to the Establishment of the Monarchy. 01 

b. From the Establishment of the Monarchy to the Separa- 

tion into two Kingdoms G2 

c. From the Separation of the Kingdoms to the Captivity 

under Nebuchadnezzar 65 



3 CONTENTS. 

PART II. — African Nations. 

PAGE 

Preliminary Remarks on the Geography of Ancient Africa 69 

Historical Sketch of the Ancient African States 74 

I. Egypt 74 

II. Carthage 92 

a. From the Foundation of the City to the Commencement of 

the "Wars with Syracuse 92 

h. From the Commencement of the Wars with Syracuse to the 

Breaking-out of the first War with Rome 98 



BOOK II. 

History of Persia from the Accession of Cyrus to the Destruction of the 
Empire by Alexander the Great 102 



BOOK III. 

History of the Grecian States from the Earliest Times to the Accession 

of Alexander the Great 125 

Geographical Outline of Greece 125 

FIRST PERIOD. 

The Ancient Traditional History, from the Earliest Times to the Dorian 
Occupation of the Peloponnese 137 

SECOND PERIOD. 

History of Greece from the Dorian Conquest of the Peloponnese to the 
Commencement of the Wars with Persia 143 

Part I. History of the principal Hellenic States in Greece Proper 144 

I. Sparta 147 

II. Athens 152 

Part II. History of the other Grecian States 158 

I. In the Peloponnese : — 

a. Achsca 158 

h. Arcadia 359 

c. Corinth 159 

d. Eiis leo 

e. Sicyon 160 



CONTENTS. 9 

II. In Central Greece : — paoe 

a. Megaris Id 

h. Boeotia 161 

c. Phocis 162 

d. Locris 162 

e. ^tolia 16? 

f. Acarnania 163 

III. In Northern Greece : — 

a. Thessaly 163 

h. Epirus 161 

IV. In the Ishmds : — 

a. Corcyra 164 

b. Cephallenia 165 

c. Zacynthus 165 

d. Mgma 165 

e. Euboea 165 

/. The Cyclades 166 

g. Lemnos 166 

h. Thasos 166 

i. Crete 166 

y. Cyprus 167 

V. Greek Colonies 170 

i. Colonies of the Eastern Group : — 

a. The ^olian Colonies 170 

h. The Ionian Colonies 171 

c. The Dorian Colonies 173 

d. Colonies on the North Coast of the ^gean. . 174 

e. Colonies of the Propohtis 175 

f. Colonies of the Euxine 175 

ii. Colonies of the Western Group : — 

a. Colonies of the Illyrian Coast 177 

6. Colonies in Italy 177 

c. Colonies in Sicily 182 

Syracuse 182 

Megara Hyblaia 185 

Gela 185 

Camarina 186 

Agrigentum 186 

Selinus 187 

Naxos 188 

Leontini 188 

Catana 188 

Zancle or Messana 189 

Himera 189 

d. Colonies on the Coasts of Gaul and Spain.... 190 

e. Colonies on the Coast of Africa 191 

1* 



10 CONTENTS. 



THIRD PEEIOD. 

PAGE 

History of Greece from the Commencement of the Wars with Persia to 
the Battle of Chteroneia 193 



BOOK IV. 

History of the Macedonian Monarchy 222 

Geographical Outline of Macedonia 222 

Historical Sketch of the Monarchy : — 

FIRST PERIOD. 

From the Commencement of the Monarchy to the Death of Alexander 
the Great 223 

SECOND PERIOD. 
From the Death of Alexander the Great to the Battle of Ipsus 238 

THIRD PERIOD. 

History of the States into which the Macedonian Monarchy was broken 

up after the Battle of Ipsus 247 

Part L History of the Syrian Kingdom of the Seleucidie 247 

Part II. History of the Egyptian Kingdom of the Ptolemies 261 

Part III. History of Macedonia, and of Greece, from the Death of Al- 
exander to the Roman Conquest 28-t 

Part IV. History of the Smaller States and Kingdoms formed out of 

the Fragments of Alexander's Monarchy 314 

I. Kingdom ofPergamus 315 

II. Kingdom of Bitliynia 320 

III. Kingdom of Paphlagonia 325 

IV. Kingdom of Pontus 326 

V. Kingdom of Cappadocia 834 

VI. Kingdom of the Greater Armenia 338 

VII. Kingdom of Armenia Minor 341 

VIII. Kingdom of Bactria 342 

IX. Kingdom of Parthia 345 

X. Kingdom of Judasa , 346 

a. From the Captivity to the Fall of the Persian Empire .... 346 

b. From the Fall of the Persian Empire to the Ee-establish- 

ment of an Independent Kingdom 350 

c. From the lie-establishme:it of an Independent Kingdom 

to the Full EstHhlishment of the Power of Rome 352 

d. From tlie Fi 11 Ksrabiislnnent of Roman Power to the De- 

,s:.i;c:i !i </.'Jo. tira'eni bv Titus , 354 



COlNTENTa. 11 

BOOK V. 

PART I.— History of Rome. 

PAGB 

Preliminary Remarks on the Geography of Ancient Italy 358 

Sketch of the History of Rome : 

FIRST PERIOD. 
The Ancient Traditional History from the Earliest Times to the Com- 
mencement of the Republic 372 

SECOND PERIOD. 
From the Foundation of the Republic to the Commencement of the Sam- 
nite Wars , 391 

THIRD PERIOD. 
From the Breaking out of the First Samnite War to the Commence- 
ment of the Wars with Carthage .' 415 

FOURTH PERIOD. 
From the Commencement of the First War with Carthage to the Rise of 
the Civil Broils under the Gracchi 429 

FIFTH PERIOD. 
From the Commencement of Internal Troubles under the Gracchi to the 
Establishment of the Empire under Augustus 459 

SIXTH PERIOD. 

From the Establishment of the Empire under Augustus to the Destruc- 
tion of the Roman Power in the West by Odoacer 503 

Preliminary Remarks on the Geographical Extent and Principal Divis- 
ions of the Roman Empire * 503 

Historical Sketch of the Roman Empire : 

PiRST Section. From the Battle of Actium to the Death of Commodus 51G 

SecoKd Section. From the Death of Commodus to the Accession of 
Diocletian , 554 

Third Section. From the Accession of Diocletian to the Final Divis- 
ion of the Empire 571 

Fourth Section. From the Final Division of the Empire to the Dep- 
osition of Romulus Augustus 595 

PART II. — History of Parthia. 

Geographical Outline of the Parthian Empire 605 

Sketch of the History of Parthia : 

FIRST PERIOD. 
From the Foundation of the Kingdom by Arsaces to the Establishment 
of the Empire by Mithridates I G09 



12 



CONTENTS. 



SECOND PERIOD. 

PAGE 

From the Establishment of the Emph-e by Mithridates I. to the Com- 
mencement of the Wars with Home 613 

THIRD PERIOD. 

From the Commencement of the Wars with Rome to the Destruction of 
the Empire by Artaxerxes 618 



APPENDIX. 

GENEALOGICAL TABLES. 

L Macedonian Royal Houses : 

A. House of Alexander the Great.... 62.^ 

B. House of Antipater 625 

C. House of Antigonus 625 

II. Royal House of the Seleucidas 626 

III. Royal House of the Ptolemies 627 

IV. Royal House of Pergamus 627 

V. Royal House of Bithynia 628 

VL Royal House of Pontus 628 

VII. Royal House of Cappadocia 620 

VIII. Jewish Royal Houses : 

A. Royal House of the Maccabees 629 

B. Royal House of the Herods 630 

IX. Roman Imperial Houses : 

A. The Julian House 630 

B. The Claudian House ;■. 631 

C. The House of Constantine the Great 631 

D. The House of Theodosius the Great 632 

X. Parthian Royal Houses : 

A. The House of Arsaces 1 632 

B. The House of Sanatroeces 632 

C. The House of Artabanus II 633 

D. The House of Vonones II 633 



Manual of Ancient History. 



1. The word "History," which etymologically means ^'in- 
quiry" or " research," and which has many slightly differing 
uses, is attached in modern parlance pre-eminently and espe- 
cially to accounts of the rise, progress, and affairs of Na- 
tions. The consideration of man, prior to the formation of 
political communities and apart from them, belongs to Natu- 
ral History — and especially to that branch of it which is 
called Anthropology — but not to History Proper. History 
Proper is the history of States or Nations, both in respect 
of their internal affairs, and in regard to their dealings one 
Avith another. Under the former head, one of the most im- 
portant branches is Constitutional History, or the history of 
Governments ; under the latter are included not only ac- 
counts of the wars, but likewise of the friendly relations of 
the different States, and of their commercial or other inter- 
course. 

Anthropology, though not History Proper, is akin to it, and is a science 
of which the historical student should not be ignorant. It treats of man 
prior to the time when "History" takes him up, and thus forms, in some 
sort, the basis on which History rests. The original condition of man, his 
primary habitat or place of abode, the mode and time of his dispersion ; the 
questions of the formation of races, of their differences, and of their affinities : 
these, and similar subjects, Avhich belong properly to Anthropology, are of 
interest to the historian, and underlie his proper field. The most important 
works bearing on these matters are : 

The Book of Genesis — the only extant work which claims to give an au- 
thoritative account of the creation and dispersion of mankind, and which is 
universally admitted to contain most interesting notices of the primitive con- 
dition of the human race, and of important facts belonging to very remote 
times. Kalisch's Historical and Critical Commentary, London, Longman, 
1855, contains a mass of valuable, though not always quite sober, illustration 
from the best modern sources. 

The Physical History of Mankind, by Dr. Prichard, London, 3d edi- 



14 ANCIENT HISTORY. 

tion, 1836 — a work of great grasp and power, elaborately illustrated, and in 
many respects of enduring value ; but in some points behind the existing 
state of our knowledge. Not, however, at present superseded by any gene- 
ral work. 

Prehistoric Man, by Sir John Lubbock, London, 18GG, This book is 
based mainly on recent researches into the earliest vestiges of man upon the 
earth, as those believed to have been found underneath the floors of caves, in 
ancient gravel deposits, in the soil at the bottom of lakes, in the so-called 
" kitchen-middings," and the like. It is well illustrated. 

2. History Proper is usually divided either into two, or 
into three, ^oortions. If the triple division is adopted, the 
portions are called respectively, ''Ancient History," the 
"History of the Middle Ages," and "Modern History." If 
the twofold division is preferred, the middle x>ortion is siip- 
pressed, and History is regarded as falling under the two 
heads of "Ancient " and " Modern." 

3. " Ancient " History is improperly separated from 
" Modern " by the arbitrary assumption of a particular date. 
A truer, better, and more convenient division may be made 
by regarding as ancient all that belongs to a state of things 
Avhich has completely passed ^ away, and as modern, all that 
connects itself inseparably with the present. In Western 
Europe the irruption of the Northern Barbarians, in Eastern 
Europe, in Asia, and in Africa the Mohammedan conquests, 
form the line of demarkation between the tw^o portions of 
the historic field ; since these events brought to a close the 
old condition of things, and introduced the condition w'hich 
continues to the present day. 

4. The Sources of History fall under the two heads of 
loritten records^ and antiquities^ or the actual extant remains 
of ancient times, whether buildings, excavations, sculptures, 
pictures, vases, or other productions of art. These antiqui- 
ties exist either in the countries anciently inhabited by the 
several nations, where they may be seen in situ ; or in mu- 
seums, to which they have been removed by the moderns, 
partly for their better preservation, partly for purposes of 
general study and comparison; or, finally, in private collec- 
tions, where they are for the most part inaccessible, and sub- 
serve the vanity of the collectors. 

No general attempt has ever been made to collect into one work a descrip- 
tion or representation of all these various remains ; and, indeed, their multi- 
plicity is so great that such a collection is barely conceivable. Works, how- 



INTHODUCTIOK 15 

ever, on limited portions of the great field of "Antiquities " are numerous; 
and frequent mention will have to be made of them in speaking of the sources 
for the history of ditierent states and periods. Here those only will be no- 
ticed which have something of a general character. 

Oberlin, Orhis antiqui monumentis siiis illustrati primre lineie. Argen- 
torati, 1790. Extremely defective, but remarkable, considering the time at 
which it was written. 

Caylus, Recueil d'Antiquites Egyptiennes, Etnisques, Grecques et Ro- 
maines. Paris, 1752-G7. Full of interest, but with engravings of a veiy 
rude and primitive character. 

MoNTFAUCON, L' Antiquite expliquee et representee en figures. Paris, 
1719-24 ; 15 vols. foho. 

Smith, Dr. \V., Dictionanj of Greek and Roman Antiquities. London, 
2d edition, 1853. 

Fergusson, James, History of Architecture in all Countries, from the 
Earliest Times to the Present Day. London, 1865-7. 

Birch, Samuel, Ancient Pottery. London, 1858. 

5. The second source of Ancient History, written recoi^h., 
is at once more coj^ious and more important than the othc r. 
It consists of two main classes of documents — 1st, Inscrip- 
tions on public monuments, generally contemporary with the 
events recorded in them; and 2 dly. Books, the works of an- 
cient or modern writers on the subject. 

6. Whether Inscriptions were, or were not, the most an- 
cient kind of written memorial is a point that can never be 
determined. What is certain is, that the nations of antiqui- 
ty made use to a very large extent of this mode of commem- 
orating events. In Egypt, in Assyria, in Babylonia, in Ar- 
menia, in Persia, in Phoenicia, in Lycia, in Greece, in Italy, 
historical events of importance were from time to time re- 
corded in this way — sometimes on the natural rock, which 
was commonly smoothed for the purpose ; sometimes on ob- 
elisks o-r pillars ; frequently upon the walls of temples, pal- 
aces, and tombs ; occasionally upon metal plates, or upon 
tablets and cylinders of fine clay — hard and durable materi- 
als all of them, capable of lasting hundreds or even thou- 
sands of years, and in many cases continuing to the present 
day. The practice prevailed, as it seems, most widely in 
Assyria and in Egypt ; it was also in considerable favor in 
Persia and among the Greeks and Romans. The other na- 
tions used it more sparingly. It was said about half a cen- 
tury ago that " of the great mass of inscrijotions still extant, 
but few comparatively are of any importance as regards his- 



16 ANCIENT HISTORY. 

tory." But this statement, if true Avhen it was made, Avhich 
may be doubted, at any rate requires modification now. 
The histories of Egypt and Assyria have been in a great 
measure reconstructed from the inscriptions of the two coun- 
tries. The great inscription of Behistun has thrown much 
light upon the early history of Persia. That on the Delphic 
tripod has illustrated the most glorious period of Greece. 
It is now generally felt that inscriptions are among the 
most important of ancient records, and that their intrinsic 
value makes up to a great extent for their comparative scan- 
tiness. 

General collections of ancient inscriptions do not as yet exist. But the 
following, which have more or less of a general character, may be here men- 
tioned : 

MuRATORi, LuD. Ant. , Novus Thesaurus Veterum Inscrijptionum. Medio- 
lani, 1739, etc. Together with Donati, Supplementa. Luccse, 1764. 

Gruter, Inscriptiones antiquce totius orhis Romani, cura J. G. Grjevii. 
Amstel. 1707 ; 4 A'ols. folio. 

PococKE, R,, Inscriptionum antiquaruvi Grcecarum et Latinarum liber. 
Londini, 1752 ; folio. 

Chandler, R., Inscriptiones antiquce plerceque nondum editce. Oxonii, 
1774; folio. 

OsANN, Fr., Sy'iloge Inscriptionum antiquarum Grcecarum et Latinarum. 
Lipsice, 1834 ; folio^ 

A large number of cuneiform inscriptions, Assyrian, Babylonian, and Per- 
sian, will be found in the Expedition Scientifique en Mesopotamie of M. 
Jules Oppert. Paris, 1858. The Persian, Babylonian, and Scythian or 
Turanian transcripts of the great Behistun Inscription are contained in tlie 
Journal of the Asiatic Society^ vols, x., xiv., and xv., to which they were 
contributed by Sir H. Rawlinson and Mr. Norris. A small but valuable 
collection of inscriptions, chiefly cuneiform, is appended to Mr. Rich's Nar- 
rative of a Journey from Bussora to Persepolis. London, 1839. 

7. Under the head of Inscribed Monuments must be in- 
cluded Coins, which have in most instances a legend, or 
legends, and which often throw considerable light upon ob- 
scure points of history. The importance of coins is no doubt 
the greatest in those portions of ancient history where the 
information derivable from authors — especially from con- 
temporary authors — is the scantiest ; their use, however, is 
not limited to such portions, but extends over as much of 
the historical field as admits of numismatic illustration. 

Collections of ancient coins exist in most museums and in many libraries. 
The collection of the British Museum is among the best in the world. Tlie 
Bodleian Library has a good collection ; and tliere is one in the library of 



INTRODUCTION. 1 7 

Christ Church, Oxford, possessing many points of iutei-est. In default of 
access to a good collection, or in further prosecution of numismatic study, 
the learner may consult the following comprehensive works : 

Spanheiji, Dissertatio de usu et prcestantia Numisviatum. London and 
Amsterdam, 170G-17 ; 2 vols, folio. 

EcKHEL, De Doctrina Nummonim Veterum. Vindebonte, 1792-8; 8 vols. 
4to. 

MiONNET, Description des Medailles. Paris, 180G-37 ; IG vols. 8vo., 
copiously illustrated, 

Humphreys, Ancient Coins and Medals, London, 1850. In this work, 
by means of embossed plates, fac-similes of the obverse and reverse of many 
coins are produced. 

Leake, Numismata Hellenica. London, 1854. 

Works upon coiiis, embracing comparatively narrow fields, are numerous, 
and often specially valuable. Many such works will be noticed among the 
sources for the history of particular times and nations. 

8. The " Books " from which ancient history may be learnt 
are of-two kinds — (l) Ancient ; and (2) Modern. Ancient 
works which treat the subject in a general way are neither 
numerous, nor (with one excej^tion) very valuable. The 
chief of those now extant are : 

DiODORUS SicuLus, BihUotheca Histonca, in forty books, of which only 
books i.-v. incl. and xi.-xx. inch have come down to us entire. The best 
editions are those of Wesseling (Bipont. 1793-1800 ; 10 vols. 8vo) and 
DiNDORF (Farisiis, 1843-4 ; 2 vols. 8vo). This work was a universal his- 
toiy from the earliest times down to b.c. GO, 

PoLYBius, Historice, likewise in forty books, of which the first five only 
are complete. Originally, a universal history of the period commencing b.c. 
220 and terminating b.c, 14G. Bad in style, but excellent in criticism and 
accuracy. The best edition is ScHAVEiGHiEUSER's (Lips. 1789 et seqq. ; 8 
vols. 8vo. Reprinted at Oxford, 1823, together with the same scholar's Lex- 
icon Pohjhianum, in 5 vols. 8vo). A good edition of the mere text has 
been published by Didot, Paris, 1859. 

JusTiNus, Historice Philippicce, in forty-four books, extracted, or rather 
abbreviated, from Trogus Pompeius, a writer of the Augustan age. This is 
a universal history from the earliest times to Augustus CiEsar, It is a short 
work, and consequently very slight and sketchy. Of recent editions, the best 
is that of DuEBNER (Lips. 1831). The best of the old editions is that of 
Strasburg, 1802, 8vo. 

ZoNARAS, Chronicon sive Annates, in twelve books, A universal history, 
extending from the Creation to the death of the Emperor Maximin, a,d. 238. 
Greatly wanting in criticism. The best edition is that in the Corpus Scrip- 
torum Historice Byzantince. Bonnse, 1841-4. 

Besides these, there remain fragments from the universal history of Nico- 
LAUS Damascenus (Fracjm. Hist. Grcpc. vol. iii. ed, C, Mullek, Parisiis, 
1849), which are of very considera))le value. 



18 ANCIENT HISTORY. 

Modern works embracing the whole range of ancient his- 
tory are numerous and important. They may be divided 
into two classes : (a) Works on Universal History, of which 
Ancient History forms only a part ; (b) Works exclusively 
devoted to Ancient History. 

(a) To tlie first class belong : 

The Universal History, Ancient and Modern, with maps and additions. 
London, 1736-44 ; 7 vols, folio. Reprinted in 8vo in G4 vols, London, 
1747-G6 ; again, in 60 vols., Avith omissions and additions. 

Raleigh, Sir W., History of the World, in his Works. Oxford, Claren- 
don Press, 1829 ; 8 vols. 8vo. 

BossuET, Discours stir VHistoire Universelle. Paris, 1681 ; 4to. (Trans- 
lated into English by Rich. Spencer. London, 1730; 8vo.) 

MiLLOT, Siemens de VHistoire Generale. Paris, 1772 et seqq. Reprint- 
ed at Edinburgh, 18S3 ; G vols. 8vo. (Translated into English, 1778 ; 2 
vols. 8vo.) 

EiCHiiORN, Weltgeschichte. Leipsic, 1799-1820 ; 5 vols. 8vo. 

Keightley, Th., Outlines of History, 8vo, being vol. ix. of Lardner's 
Cabinet Cyclopaedia. London, 1835 et seqq. A convenient abridgment. 

Tytler and Nares, Elements of General History. London, 1825. ' 'Owes 
its reputation and success to the Avant of a better work on the subject."' 

(Jj) Under the second head may be mentioned : 

NiEBUHR, B. G., Vortrdge uher alte Geschichte. Berlin, 1847 ; 3 vols. 8vo. 
Edited after his death by his son, Marcus Niebuhr. (Translated into Eng- 
lish by Dr. Leonhard Schmitz, with additions and corrections. London, 
1852 ; 3 vols. 8vo.) A work of the highest value, embodying all the results 
of modern discovery up to about the year 1830. 

Schlosser, Universal-historische Uebersicht der Geschichte der altenWelt. 
Frankfort, 1826 ; 3 vols. 8vo. 

Bredow, Handbuch der alte Geschichte. Altona, 1799 ; 8vo. (Trans- 
lated into English. London, 1827; 8vo.) 

Smith, Philip, An Ancient History from the Earliest Records to the Fall 
of the Western Empire. London, 1865 ; 3 vols. 8vo. Embodies the latest 
results of modem discovery. 

Heeren, Ideen Uher die Politik, den Verkehr, und den Handel der vor- 
nehmsten Volker der alten Welt ; 4th edition. " Gottingen, 1824. (Trans- 
lated into English. Oxford, 1833 et seqq. ; 5 vols. 8vo.) A work which, 
so far as the commerce of the ancients is concerned, has not baen superseded. 

A few modern works of a less comprehensive character 
than those hitherto described, but still belonging rather to 
general than to particular history, seems also to deserve 
mention here. Such are — 

RoLLiN, Histoire Ancienne des Egyptiens, des Carthaginiens, des Assyriens, 
des Medes et desPerses, des Macedoniens, et des Grecs. Paris, 1824 ; 12 vols. 
Svo, revue par Letronne. " The last and best edition." (Translated into 



INTKODUCTION. 19 

English. London, 17G8 ; 7 a'oIs. 8vo.) The earlier portion of this work is 
now antiquated, and must be replaced by writers who liave had tlie advantage 
of recent discoveries, 

IIawlinson, G., The Five Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern 
World, or the History, Geography, and Antiquities of Chaldcea, Assyria, 
Babylonia, Media, and Persia. London, 18G2-7 ; 4 vols. 8vo. . With nu- 
merous illustrations. 

9. The lact that all historical events must occur at a cer- 
tain time and in a certain place, attaches to History two 
branches of knowledge as indispensable auxiliaries ; viz., 
Chronology and Geography. By the universal historian 
these sciences should be known completely : and a fair knowl- 
edge of them ought to be acquired by every historical stu- 
dent. A fixed mode of computing time, and an exact or ap- 
proximate reckoning of the period occupied by the events 
narrated, is essential to every methodized history; nor can 
any history be regarded as complete without a more or less 
elaborate description of the countries which were the thea- 
tres of the events recorded in it. 

10. Exact Chronology is difficult, and a synchronistic 
A'iew of history generally is impossible, without the adoption 
of an era. Nations accordingly, as the desire of exactness or 
the wish to synchronize arose, invented eras for themselves, 
which generally remained in use for manj^ hundreds of years. 
The earliest know^n instance of the formal assumption of a 
fixed point in time from which to date events belongs to the 
history of Babylon, where the era of Nabonassar, b.c. 747, 
appears to have been practically in use from that year. The 
era of the foundation of Rome, b.c. 752 (according to the best 
authorities), w^as certainly not adopted by the Romans till 
after the expulsion of the kings ; nor did that of the Olym- 
piads, B.C. 776, become current in Greece until the time of 
Tim pens (about B.C. 300). The Asiatic Greeks, soon after the 
death of Alexander, adopted the era of the Seleucidae, b.c. 312. 
The era of Antioch, b.c. 49, was also commonly used in the 
East from that date till a.d. 600. The Armenian era, a.d. 
553, and the Mohammedan, a.d. 622 (the Hegira), are like- 
wise worthy of notice. 

The most important chrcnological monuments are the fol- 
lowing : 

The Assyrian Canon (discovered by Sir Henry Raavlinson among the 



20 



ANCIENT IIISTOIIY 



antiquities in the British Museum, and published by him in the Athenceum, 
Nos. 1812 and 20G4), an account of Assyrian Chronology from about b.c. 
909 to B.C. 680, impressed on a number of clay tablets in the reign of Sar- 
danapalus, the son of Esarhaddon, all now more or less broken, but supply- 
ing each other's deficiencies, and yielding by careful comparison a complete 
chronological scheme, covering a space of 230 years. The chronology of 
the ^\ hole period is verified by a recorded solar eclipse, which is evidently 
that of June 15, B.C. 763. 

The Apis Stel^ (discovered by M. Mariette, close to the Pyramid of 
Abooseer, near Cairo), published in the Zeitschrift fur die Kunde des Mor- 
genlandes for 1864, and also by M. de Rouge in his Recherches stir les rno- 
miments qiionpeut attribuer mix six premieres Dynasties de Manethon. Paris, 
1866. Most important for Egyptian Chronology. 

The Parian Marble (brought to England from Smyrna in the year 1627 
by an agent of the Earl of Arundel, and presented to the University of Ox- 
ford by his son; preserved among the "Arundel Marbles "in the Schola 
Philosoplme Moralis, but in a very decayed condition), a chronological ar- 
rangement of important events in Greek history from the accession of Ce- 
crops to the archonship of Callistratus, B.C. 355. Best editions: Marmora 
Arundeliana, ed. J. Seluen. Londini, 1628. Marmora Oxoniensia, ed. E. 
Chandler. Oxoniis, 1763 ; folio. Marmor Parium, ed. C. Muller, in 
vol. i. of the Fragmenta Historicorum Grcecorum. Parisiis, 1846. The in- 
scription is also given in Boeckii's Corpus Inscriptionum Groecarum, vol. ii. 
No. 2374. 

The Fasti Capitolini (discovered at Rome on the site of the ancient 
Forum, partly in the year 1547, partly in 1817 and 1818, and still preserved 
in the Museum of the Capitol), a list of the Roman magistrates and triumphs 
from the commencement of the Republic to the end of the reign of Augustus. 
Best edition of the fragments discovered in 1547, the second of Sigonius, 
Venet. 1556. Best edition of the fragments of 1817-8, that of Borgiiesi, 
Milan, 1818. These Fasti are reproduced in appendices to the first and 
second volumes of Dr. Arnold's History of Rome, down to the close of the 
first Punic War. An excellent reprint and arrangement of the fragments will 
be found in Mommsen's Inscriptiones Latince Antiquissimce. Berlin, 1863. 

Ancient Avorks on Chronology Avere numerous; but not 
many have come down to our times. The subject first be- 
gan to be treated as a science by tlie Alexandrians in the 
third century before Christ. Eratosthenes, Apollodorus, So- 
sicrates, and others, undertook the task of arranging the 
events of past history according to exact chronological 
schemes, which were no doubt sufficiently arbitrary. These 
writers were succeeded by Castor (about b.c. 100-50), Ce- 
phalion, Julius Africanus (a.d. 200), and Hippolytus, of 
whom the last two were Christians. The earliest work of a 
purely chronological character which has come down to us 
is the following: : 



INTRODUCTION. 



Edsebius FA-MvnuA,Chronicorutn Canoman Hbri duo. The Greek text is 
lost ; but the latter book has been preseiTed to us in the Latin translation of 
Jerome ; and the greater part of both books exists in an Armenian version, 
which has been rendered into Latin by the Armenian monk, Zoiirab, assist- 
ed by Cardinal Mai. (Mediolani, 1818 ; folio.) 

Other chronological works of importance are — 

Georgius Syncellus, Chronographia^ in the Corpus Hist. Byzant.^ ed. 
DiNDORF. Bonnse, 1829 ; 2 vols. 8vo, 

Johannes Malalas, Chronographia, in the same collection, ed. Dindorf. 
Bonnae, 1831 ; 8vo. 

Chronicon Paschale, in the same collection. Bonnae, 1832 ; 2 vols. 8vo. 

SCAI.IGB-R, Jos., De JEmendatione Temporum. Geneva, 1G29. 

Ideler, Handhuch der Chronologic. Berlin, 1825-6 ; 2 vols. 8vo. 

L'Art de Verifier les Dates. Paris, 1819-44 ; 36 vols. 8vo. 

Hales, W., New Analysis of Chronology, explaining the History and An- 
tiquities of the Primitive Nations of the World. London, 1809-12 ; 3 vols. 
4to. New edition, corrected and improA^ed, 1830 ; 4 vols. 8vo. 

Clinton, H. F., Fasti Hellenici, or The Civil and Literary Chronology of 
Greece from the Fifty-fifth Olympiad to the Death of Augustus. Oxford, 
Clarendon Press, 1827-30 ; 3 vols 4to. A valuable work, not confined to 
the chronology of Greece, but embracing that of all the Asiatic kingdoms 
and empires from the earliest times to Alexander's conquest of Persia. 

11. Geography, the other ancillary science to History, 
was recognized from a very early date as closely connected 
with it. The History of Herodotus is almost as much geo- 
graphical as historical: and the geographical element occu- 
l^ies a considerable space in the histories of many other an- 
cient writers, as notably Polybius and Diodorus. At the 
same time the separability of geography, and its claims to 
be regarded as a distinct branch of knowledge, were per- 
ceived almost from the first; and works upon it, whereof 
only fragments remain, were written by Hecataeus of Mile- 
tus, Scylax of Caryanda, Charon of Lampsacus, Damastes, 
Eratosthenes, Agatharchides, Scymnus of Chios, and others. 
The most important of the extant classical works on the 
subject are — 

The Periplus Maris Mediterranei, ascribed to Scylax of Caryanda, but 
really the work of an unknown writer belonging to the time of Philip of 
Macedon. Ed. D. Hoesciiel, August. Vind. , 1608. Printed also in Hud- 
son's Geographi Minores, Oxoniis, 1703; and" in C. Muller's Geographi 
Grceci Minores. Paris, 1855. 

Strabo, Geographica, in seventeen books, the most important ancient 
work on the subject. Best editions : that of Is. Casaubon, Parisiis, 1620, 
fol. ; that of Th. Falconer, Oxoniis, 1807, 2 vols, folio ; that of Sieben- 



22 , ANCIENT HISTORY. 

KEKS, Lipsiiv, ITOu-lSll, vols. 8vo ; ^and that of Kramer, Bevolini, 184:7- 
52, 3 vols. 8vo. 

DiONYSius, Periegesis, written in liexameter verse. Published, with the 
commentary of Eustathius, by H. Stephanus. Parisiis, 1577. It Avill be 
found also in the Geographi Grceci Minores of Bernhardt (Leipsic, 1828) 
and of C. Mltller. 

Plinius, Historia Naturalis, in thirty-seven books. Best edition, that of 
SiELiG. Gothce ; 8 vols. 8vo. 

PxoLEMiEUS, Geographia, in eight books. Ed. Bertius, Amstel., 1618; 
folio. 

Po:mponius Mela, Cosjuographia, sive De Situ Orhis, in three books. 
Edited by H. Stephanus, together with the Periegesis of Dionysius. Pa- 
risiis, 1577. Best edition, that of Tzschucke. Lipsia;, 1807 ; 7 vols. 8vo. 

And for the geography of Greece — 

Pausanias, Periegesis Ilelladis, in ten books. Best editions : that of SiE- 
15EL1S, Lipsia;, 1822-8, 5 vols. 8vo; and that of Bekker, Berlin, 182G-7, 2 
vols. 8vo. 

Modern works on the subject of Ancient Geography are 
r.imieroiis, but only a few are of a general character. Among 
tliese may be noticed — 

Cellarius, Notitia Orhis Antiqui. Lipsia?, 1701-G ; 2 vols. 4to. Cum 
vbservationibus J. C. Schwartzii. Lipsiee, 1771 and 1773. 

Mannert, Geographie der Griechen und Romer. NUrnberg, 1801-31 ; 
10 vols. 8vo. 

GosSELiN, Recherches sur la Geographie systhnatique et positive des An- 
ciens. Paris, 1798-1813 ; 4 vols. 4to. 

Hennell, J., Geography oj" Herodotus. London, 1800; 4to. And the 
same writer's Treatise on the Comparative Geographj of Asia Minor, with 
an Atlas. London, 1831 ; 2 vols. 8vo. 

Hitter, Erdkunde. Berlin, 1832 et seqq. A most copious and learned 
Avork, embracing all the results of modern discovery up to the date of the 
])ublication of each volume. 

Smith, Dr. W., Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geographj. London, 
1854 ; 2 vols. 8vo. 

Among useful compendiums are — 

Laurent, P. E,, Introduction to Ancient Geography. Oxford, 1813; 
Svo. 

Arroav^mith, A., Comjjendiiim of Ancient and Modern Geography, for 
the use of Eton School. London, 1830; 8vo. 

The best Atlases illustrative of Ancient Geography are 
the following : 

Kiepert, Atlas von Hellas, with supplcmeutaiy maps. Berlin, 1846-51. 
Also the same geographer's Atlas Antiquus. Berlin, 1861. 

MiTLLEi:, C, Maps accompanying the Geographi Gra'ci Minores. Paris, 
1855. 



iNTiU)irL:(rri()x. 2;. 

Johnston, A. Keith, Atlas 0/ Classical Geography. Edinburgh, 186G ; 
4to. 

Smith, Di'.W., Biblical and Classical Atlas. London, 1868; small 
folio. 

12. The field of Ancient Ilistory may be niai3ped out 
either synchronistically, according to certain periods and 
epochs, or ethnographically, according to states and nations. 
Neither of these two methods is absolutely superior to the 
other, each having merits in which the other is deficient. It 
would be embarrassing to have to choose between them ; 
but, fortunately, this difficulty is obviated by the possibility 
of combining the two into one system. This combined 
metliod, which has been ali-eady preferred as most conven- 
ient by other writers of Manuals, will be adopted in the en- 
suing pages, where the general division of the subject will 
be as follows : 

Book I. — History of the Ancient Asiatic and African 
States and Kingdoms from the Earliest Times to the Foun- 
dation of the Persian Monarchy by Cyrus the Great, b.c. 
558. 

Book II. — History of the Persian Monarchy from the Ac- 
cession of Cyrus to the Death of Darius Codomannus, b.c. 
558-330. 

Book HI. — History of the Grecian States, both in Greece 
Proper and elsewhere, from the Earliest Times to the Ac- 
cession of Alexander, B.C. 330. 

Book IV. — History of the Macedonian Monarchy, and the 
Kingdoms into which it broke up, until their absorption into 
the Roman Empire. 

Book V. — History of Rome from the Earliest Times to 
the Fall of the Western Empire, a.d. 476, and Parallel His- 
tory of Parthia. 



BOOK I 



HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT ASIATIC AND AFRICAN STATES AND KING- 
DOMS FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE FOUNDATION OF THE 
PERSIAN MONARCHY BY CYRUS THE GREAT. 



PART L— ASIATIC NATIONS. 

A. Preliminary MemarJcs on the Geography of Asia. 

1. Asia is the largest of the three great divisions of the 
Eastern Hemisphere. Regarding it as separated from Africa 
Asia— size ^J the Red Sea and Isthmus of Suez, and from 
and situation. Europe by the Ural Mountains, the Ural river, the 
Casj)ian Sea, and the main chain of the Caucasus, its super- 
ficial contents will amount to 17,500,000 square miles, where- 
as those of Africa are less than 12,000,000, and those of Eu- 
rope do not exceed 3,800,000. In climate it unites greater 
varieties than either of the two other divisions, extending as 
it does froni the 'ZStli degree of north latitude to within a 
hundred miles of the equator. It thus lies mainly within the 
northern temperate zone, but projects northward a distance 
of eleven degrees beyond the Arctic circle, while southward 
it throws into the region of the Tropics three long and broad 
peninsulas. 

The advantages of Asia over Africa ai'e gi-eat. Note especially the inden- 
tation of the shores, the numerous littoral islands, the great number of large 
livers, and the comparative!}' small amount of sandy desert. Its advantages 
over Europe are less, consisting chiefly in its far larger size, and the greater 
variety-of its products. 

2. Asia consists mainly of a great central table-land, run- 
ning east and west from the neighborhood of the ^gean to 
Physical fea- the north- western frontier of China, with low plains 
tures. surrounding it, which are for the most part fertile 
and well watered. The high table-land is generally bounded 
by MOUNTAIN-CHAINS, whicli mostly run parallel to it in lati- 
tiidinal lines. In places these primary latitudinal chains 



TAKT I.] ASIATIC NATIONS. 25 

crive way to others, which run in an opposite or longitudinal 
direction. 

Among the latitudinal chains the most important are — in tlie west, Tau- 
rus, Olympus, and Niphates ; in the central region, Paropamisus (Elburz), 
and the four parallel chains of the Kuen-lUn, the Himalaya (Imaaus), the 
Thian-chan, and the Altai ; while in the extreme cast are the Chinese ranges 
of the In-chan, the Nan-clian, and the Kilian-chan. In the reverse or longi- 
tudinal direction run the Ural, separating Europe from Asia ; the Zagros 
range, bounding the Mesopotamian plain on the east ; the Suliman and Hala 
ranges, shutting in the Indus valley on the west ; the Bolor chain, connecting 
the Himalaya with the Thian-chan ; the eastern and western Ghauts in the 
peninsula of Hindustan ; the Dzangbo-tchu of Burmah ; the Yun-ling, Ala- 
chan, and Khingan of China ; and the Jablonnoi of Siberia, in the region be- 
tween Kamtchatka and Manchuria. 

3. The Rivers of Asia may be divided into two classes — 
tliose of the central tract, and those of the circumjacent re- 
gions. The rivers of the central tract are conti- 
^^^^^' nental or mediterranean ; i. e., they begin and end 
without reaching the sea. Either they form after a while 
salt lakes in which their waters are evaporated, or they grad- 
ually waste aw^ay and lose themselves in the sands of deserts. 
The rivers of the circumjacent plains are, on the contrary, 
oceanic ; I e., the}^ mingle themselves with the waters of the 
great deep. 

To the class of continental rivers belong the Ural and the Aras (Ai-axes), 
which flow into the Caspian ; the Sir-Daria or Syhun (Jaxartes), and the 
Amoo or Jj^hun (Oxus), whicli fall into the Sea of Aral ; the Heri-rud (Arius), 
or riv^er of Herat ; the Zende-rud, or river of Isfahan ; the Bendamir, or river 
of Persepolis ; the Helmend (Etymandrus), the chief stream of Affghanistan ; 
the Dehas, or river of Balkh ; the Ak-Su, or river of Bokhara ; the Kashgar 
river; the Jordan, and others. The most important of the Oceanic streams 
are the Obi or Irtish, the Yenisei, and the Lena, which drain the northern or 
Siberian plain, and flow into the Arctic Ocean ; the Amoor, the Hoang-Ho, 
and the Yang-tse-ki?.ng, Avhich drain the eastern plain, and fall into the North 
Pacific ; the May-kiang or Cambodia, the Meinam, and the Irrawaddy, the 
rivers of Siam and Burmah ; the Brahmaputra, Ganges, and Indus, the great 
rivers of India ; and the Tigris and Euphrates, the rivers of Mesopotamia ; 
which all flow southward into the Indian Ocean. Of these streams only the 
following were known to the ancients — the Tigris, the Euphrates, the Indus, 
the Etymandrus, the Arius, the Oxus, the Jaxartes, the Araxes (Aras), and 
the Jordan. Minor streams important in Ancient History axQ — the Halys 
(Kizil-Irmak), Hermus (Ghiediz Chai), and Mfeander (Mendeve), in Asia Mi- 
nor ; the Orontes (Nahr-el-Asy) in Syria ; the Phasis (Rion) in Imeritia and 
Mingrelia ; and the Pasitigris (Kuran), the Hedypnus (Jerrah^, and tha 
Oroatis (Tab or Hind van), in Susiana and Persia Proper. 

2 



2G ANCIENT HISTORY. [book i. 

4. Asia may conveniently be divided into Northern, Cen- 
tral, and Southern, the Southern region being again sub- 
Naturai divis- divided into a Western and an Eastern portion, 
ions. j^ -g ^yij^]^ South-western Asia that Ancient His- 
tory is almost exclusively concerned. 

5. N'oRTHERN Asia, or the tract lying north of the Cas- 
pian Sea, the Jaxartes, and the Altai mountain-chain, is for 
Northern the most part a great grassy plain, of low eleva- 
^^^^' tion, destitute of trees, and unproductive, the layer 
of vegetable soil being thin. Towards the north this plain 
merges into vast frozen wilds capable of nourishing only a 
few hunters. In the west the Ural and Altai, in the east the 
Jablonnoi, and their offshoot the Tukulan, are the only mount- 
ains. The rivers are numerous, and abound in fish. The Ural 
and Altai chains are rich in valuable minerals, as gold, silver, 
platina, copper, and iron. This region was almost unknown 
to the ancients, who included it under the vague name of 
Scythia. Some scanty notices of it occur, however, in He- 
rodotus. 

6. Central Asia, or the region bounded on the north by 
the Altai, on the west by the Caspian, on the south by the 

Elburz, the Hindu Kush, and the Himalaya, on 
the east by the Yun-ling and other Chinese ranges, 
consists, excepting in its more western portion, of an elevated 
plateau or table-land, which toAvards the south is not less 
than 10,000 feet, and towards the north is from 4000 to 2G0O 
feet above the level of the sea. This plateau is intersected 
by the tAvo great chains of the Thian-chan and the Kuen-liin, 
and otherwise diversified by important ridges. Towards the 
north the soil admits of pasturage, and in the west and south 
are some rich plains and valleys ; but the greater part of th'e 
region consists of sandy deserts. Outside the western bound- 
ary of the plateau, which is formed by the Bolor and other 
"longitudinal" chains, a low plain succeeds, a continuation 
of the Siberian steppe, which consists also, in the main, of 
sandy desert, excepting along the courses of the streams. 

The low deserts between tlie Caspian and tlie Bolor are known under the 
names of Kharesm and Kizil Koum. The great sandy desert of the elevated 
central region is called Cobi or Gobi in its western, and Shamoo in its more 
eastern poiiions. It has a general direction from S.W. by W. to N.E. by E., 
and is estimated to contain 600,000 square miles, or about three times the 



PART 1.] ASIATIC NATIONS. 27 

area of France. It comprises, however, some oases whei-c there is good 
pasturage. 

A small i3ortion only of Central Asia — lying towards the 
west and the south-west — was known to the ancients. In 
the low region between the Elbiirz range and the Siberian 
steppe, upon the courses of the two great streams which flow 
down from the plateau, were three countries of some impor- 
tance. These were — 

i. Chorasmia, to the extreme west, between the Caspian 
and the lower Oxus — a desolate region, excepting close along 
the river-bank, known still as Kharesm, and forming part of 
the Khanat of Khiva. 

ii. Sogdiana, between the lower Oxus and the lower Jax- 
artes, resembling Chorasmia in its western portion, but to- 
wards the east traversed by spurs of the Bolor and the Thian- 
chan, and watered by numerous streams descending from 
them. The chief of these was the Polytimetus of the Greeks, 
on which was Maracanda (Samarkand), the capital. 

iii. Bactria, on the upper Oxus, between Sogdiana and the 
Paropamisus (Hindu Kush). Mountainous, fertile, and well 
watered towards the east, but towards the west descending 
into the desert. Chief cities, Bactra (Balkh), the- capital, a 
little south of the Oxus, and Margus (Merv), on a stream of 
its own, in the western desert. 

Tradition makes Bactria a country of great importance at a remote date, 
and there is some reason to believe that Bactra, its capital, was the first great 
city of the Arian race. Some moderns have reported that the bricks of Balkh 
bear cuneiform inscriptions ; but as yet the site is very partially explored. 

7. Southern Asia, according to the division of the conti- 
nent which has been here preferred, comprises all the coun- 
Southeru tries lying north of the Black Sea, the Caucasus, 
^^^^- the Caspian, and the Elburz, Hindu Kush, and 

Himalaya ranges, together with those lying east of the Yun- 
ling, the Ala-chan, and the Khingan, which form the eastern 
boundary of the central table-land. A line drawn along the 
ninety-second meridian (E. from Greenwich) will separate 
this tract, at the point where it is narrowest, into an Eastern 
and Western region, the former containing Manchuria, China, 
and the Siamo-Burmese peninsula, the latter Hindustan, 
AfFghanistan, Beluchistan, Persia, the Russian Transcaucasian 
provinces, Turkey in Asia, and Arabia. With the Eastern 



28 ANCIENT HISTORY. [book i. 

region Ancient History has no concern at all, since it was 
unknown to the great nations of antiquity, and whatever his- 
tory it has belongs to the Modern rather than to the Ancient 
l^eriod. (See Introduction, § 3.) With the Western region 
Ancient History is, on the contrary, concerned vitally and es- 
sentially, since this region formed in the early times, if not 
the sole, yet at any rate the chief, stage on which the his- 
torical drama w^as exhibited. 

Revelation, tradition, and the indications derivable from ethnology and 
comparative philology, agree in pointing to this South-western region as 
the cradle of the human race. The soil, climate, and natural procluctions 
are such as would have suited man in his infancy. Here, and in the adjoin- 
ing part of Africa, large communities were first formed, cities built, and gov- 
eniments established. Here was the birthplace of agriculture and the arts ; 
and here trade and commerce first acquired any considerable development. 
Numerous streams, a rich soil, abundant and most A-aluable natural products, 
among which the first place must be assigned to the wheat plant, here alone 
indigenous, rendered this portion of the earth's surface better fitted than per- 
haps any other for encouraging and promoting civilization. Here, accord- 
ingly, civil history commenced, the earliest Kingdoms and States being, all 
of them, in this quarter. 

8. SouTH-WESTERX AsiA is naturally divisible into four 
main regions — viz. (a) Asia Minor, or the peninsula of Ana- 

. tolia; (b) the adjoining table-land, or the tract 

South-west- which lies between Asia Minor and the Valley of 
the Indus; (c) the lowland south of this table- 
land, which stretches from the base of the mountains to 
the shores of the Indian Ocean ; and [d) the Indian Penin- 
sula. 

(a) Asia Minor consists of a central table-land, of mod- 
erate elevation, lying between the two parallel chains of 
Taurus and Olympus, to2;ether w4th three coast- 

A'^i*! "Minor «/ a / c:» 

tracts, situated respectively north, west, and south 
of the plateau. Its chief rivers are the Iris (Yechil Irmak), 
the Halys (Kizil Irmak), and the Sangarius (Sakkariyeh), 
wdiich all fall into the Euxine. Its loftiest mountain is Ar- 
gseus, near Csesaraia (Kaisariyeh), wdiich attains an altitude 
of 13,000 feet. On the highest part of the plateau, which is 
towards the south, adjoining Taurus, are a number of salt 
lakes, into which the rivers of this region empty themselves. 
The largest is the Palus Tattaius (Touz Ghieul), which ex- 
tends about forty-five miles in its greatest length. Asia 



PART I.] ASIATIC NATIONS. 20 

Minor contained in the times anterior to Cyrus tlic follow- 
ing countries : — On the plateau, two : Phrygia and Cappa- 
docia ; boundary between tliem, the Halys. In the northern 
coast-tract, two : Paphlagonia and Bithynia ; boundary, the 
Billffius (Filiyas). In the western coast-tract, three : Mysia, 
Lydia, and Caria, with the JEolian, Ionian, and Dorian Greeks 
occupying most of the sea-board. In the southern coast- 
tract, three : Lycia, Pamphylia, and Cilicia. The chief cities 
were Sardis, the capital of Lydia; Dascyleium, of Bithynia; 
Gordium, of Phrygia ; Xanthus, of Lycia ; Tarsus, of Cilicia ; 
and Mazaca (afterwards CaBsargea), of Cappadocia; together 
with the Grecian settlements of Miletus, Phocaea, Ephesus, 
Smyrna, Halicarnassus, and Cnidus on the west, and Cyzicus, 
Heraclea, Sinope, Amisus, Cerasus, and Trapezus upon the 
north. 

Islands. The littoral islands belonging to Asia Minor 
were important and numerous. The principal were Pro- 
connesus in the Propontis ; Tenedos, Lesbos (capital Myti- 
lene), Chios, Sanios, and Rhodes, in the JEgean ; and Cyprus 
in the Levant or Eastern Mediterranean. The chief towns 
of Cyprus were Salamis, Citium, and Paphos, on the coast ; 
and, in the interior, Idalium. 

(b) The GREAT HIGHLAND extending from Asia Minor in 
the west to the mountains which border the Indus Valley in 
The central ^^6 east, compHsed Seventeen countries — viz., 
highland. Armenia, Iberia or Sapeiria, Colchis, Matiene, Me- 
dia, Persia, Mycia, Sagartia, Cadusia, Hyrcania, Parthia, 
Aria, Arachosia, Sattagydia, Gandaria, Sarangia, and Ge- 
drosia or the Eastern Ethiopia. As these countries were 
mostly of considerable size and importance, a short descrij)- 
tion will be given of each. 

i. Armenia lay east of Cappadocia. . It was a lofty region, 
consisting almost entirely of mountains, and has been well 
called "the Switzerland of Western Asia." The mountain 
system culminates in Ararat, which has an elevation of 
17,000 feet. Hence all the great rivers of this part of Asia 
take their rise, viz., the Tigris, the Euphrates, the Halys, the 
Araxes, and the Cyrus. In the highest part of the region 
occur two elevated lake-basins, those of LTrumiyeh and Van, 
each having a distinct and separate water-system of its own. 
The only town anciently of much importance was one which 



30 ANCIENT HISTORY. [book i. 

occupied the position of the modern Van, on the east coast 
of the lake of the same name. 

ii. Iberia, or Sapeiria, adjoined Armenia to the north-east. 
It comprised the whole of the modern Georgia, together 
with some parts of Russian and Turkish Armenia, as espe- 
cially the region about Kars, Ispir, and Akhaltsik. Its riv- 
ers were the Cyrus (Kur) and Araxes (Aras), which flow to- 
gether into the Cas^^ian. It had one lake, Lake Goutcha or 
Si van, in the mountain region north-east of Ararat. 

iii. Colc/iis, or the valley of the Phasis, between the Cau- 
casus and Western Iberia, corresponded to the modern dis- 
tricts of Imeritia, Mingrelia, and Guriel. Its chief impor- 
tance lay in its commanding one of tlie main routes of early 
commerce, which passed by way of the Oxus, Caspian, Aras, 
and Phasis to the Euxine. (Connect with this the Argonau- 
tic expedition.) Chief town, Phasis, at the mouth of the 
Rion river, a Greek settlement. Natives of Colchis, black: 
believed to be Egyptians. 

iv. Matime was a strip of mountain land, running south- 
ward from Sapeiria, and sej^arating between Assyria and 
Media Magna. It early lost its name, and was reckoned to 
one or other of the adjoining countries. 

V. Media, one of the largest and most important of the re- 
gions belonging to this group, extended from the Araxes on 
the north to the desert beyond Isfahan on the south. East- 
ward it reached to the Caspian Gates; westward it was 
bounded by Matiene, or (when Matiene disappeared) by Ar- 
menia and Assyria. Its chief rivers were the Araxes (Aras) 
and the Mardus (Kizil Uzen or Sefid-rud). It consisted of 
two regions, Northern Media, or Media Atropatene (Azerbi- 
jan), and Southern Media, or Media Magna. The whole ter- 
ritory was mountainous, except towards the south-east, where 
it abutted on the Sagartian desert. The soil was mostly 
sterile, but some tracts Avere fairly, and a few richly, produc- 
tive. The chief cities were Ecbatana and Rhages. 

vi. Persia lay south and south-east of Media, extending 
from the Median frontier across the Zagros mountain-chain, 
to the shores of the gulf whereto it gave name. It was bar- 
ren and unfruitful towards the north and east, where it ran 
into the Sagartian desert ; mountainous and fairly fertile in 
the central region ; and a tract of arid sand along the coast. 



r.vuTi.] ASIATIC NATIONS. 31 

Its rivers were few and of small size. Two, the Oroatis (Tab) 
and Grains (Khisl)t river), flowed southward into the Persian 
Gulf; one, tlie Araxes (Bendamir), with its tributary the Cy- 
rus (Puhvar), ran eastward, and terminated in a salt lake 
(Neyriz or Bakhtigan). The principal cities were Persepolis, 
Pasargadse, and Carmana, which last was the caj^ital of a 
district of Persia, called Carmania. 

vii. 3fycia was a small tract south-east of Persia, on the 
shores of the Persian Gulf, opposite the island of Kislnn and 
the promontory of Ras Mussendum. It w^as ultimately ab- 
sorbed into Persia Proper. 

viii. Sagartia w^as at once the largest and the most thinly 
peopled of tlie plateau countries. It comprised the whole of 
the great desert of Iran, which reaches from Kashan and 
Koum on the Avest to Sarawan and Quettah towards the east, 
a distance of above 900 miles. It was bounded on the north 
by Media, Parthia, and Aria ; on the east by Sarangia and 
Sattagydia ; on the south by Mycia and the Eastern Ethio- 
pia ; on the west by Media and Persia. It contained in an- 
cient times no city of importance, the inhabitants being 
nomads, whose flocks found a scanty pasturage on the less 
barren portions of the great u})land. 

ix. Cadusla, or the country of the Cadusians, w^as a thin 
strip of territory along the south-eastern and southern shores 
of the Caspian, corresponding to the modern Gliilali and Ma- 
zanderan. Strictly speaking, it scarcely belonged to the pla- 
teau, since it lay outside the Elburz range, on the northern 
slopes of the chain, and between them and the Caspian Sea. 
It contained no city of importance, but was fertile, well 
wooded, and well watered ; and sustained a numerous popu- 
lation. 

X. Hyrcanici lay east of Cadusia, at the south-eastern corner 
of the Caspian, where the name still exists in the modern 
river Gurgan. The chain of the Elburz here broadens out to 
a width of 200 miles, and a fertile region is formed contain- 
ing many rich valleys and high mountain pastures, together 
wdth some considerable plains. The chief city of Hyrcania 
was Zadracarta. 

xi. Parthia lay south and south-east of Hyrcania, including 
the sunny flank of the Elburz chain, and the flat country at 
its base as far as the northern edoe of the desert, Avhere it 



r>2 ANCIENT HISTORY. [book i. 

bordered on Sagartia. It was a narrow but fertile territory, 
watered by the numerous streams which liere descend from 
the mountains. 

xii. A7^ia, the modern territory of Herat, adjoined Parthia 
on the east. It was a small but fertile tract on the river 
Arius (the Heri-rud), with a capital city, called Aria or Arta- 
coana (Herat). 

xiii. Arachosia^ east of Aria, comprised most of Western 
and Central Affghanistan. Its rivers were the Etymandrus 
(Helmend) and the Arachotus (Arghand-ab). The capital 
was Arachotus (Kandahar?). It was an extensive country, 
mountainous and generally barren, but containing a good 
deal of fair pasturage, and a few fertile vales. 

xiv. Sattagydia adjoined Arachosia on the east, correspond- 
ing to South-eastern Affghanistan, or the tract between Kan- 
dahar and the Indus valley. In character it closely resem- 
bled Arachosia, but was on the whole wilder and more rug- 
ged. 

XV. Gandaria lay above Sattagydia, comprising the mod- 
ern Kabul and Kaferistan. It consisted of a mass of tangled 
mountain-chains, with fertile A^alleys between them, often, 
however, narrowing to gorges difficult to penetrate. Its 
principal stream was the Cophen (or river of Kabul), a tribu- 
tary of the Indus, and its chief town Caspatyrus (Kabul ?). 

xvi. ScQXingia, or Zarangia, was the tract lying about the 
salt lake (Hamoon) into which the Etymandrus (Helmend) 
empties itself This tract is flat, and generally desert, ex- 
cept along the courses of the many streams which flow into 
the Hamoon from the north and east. 

xvii. Gedrosia corresponded to the modern Beluchistan. 
It lay south of Sarangia, Arachosia, and Sattagydia, and east 
of Sagartia and Mycia. On the east its boundary was the 
Indus valley ; on the south it Avas washed by the Indian 
Ocean. It was a region of alternate rock and sand, very 
scantily watered, and almost entirely destitute of wood. 
The chief town was Pura (perhaps Bunpoor). 

(c) The LOAVLAND to the south, or rather the south-west, 
The southern ^^ the great West-Asian plateau, comprised five 
lowland. countries only: viz., Syria, Arabia, Assyria, Susis 

or Susiana, and Babylonia. Each of these requires a short 
notice. 



I'ART 1.] ASIATIC NATIONS. 33 

i. Syria, bounded by Cilicia on the north, the Euphrates 
on the nortli-east, tlie Arabian desert on tlie south-east and 
south, and by the Levant upon the west, comprised the fol- 
lowing regions : 1st. Syria Proper, or the tract reaching 
from Amanus to Hermon and Palmyra. Chief cities in the 
ante-Cyrus period : CarchemisJi, Hamath, Damascus, Baal- 
bek, and Tadmor or Palmyra. Chief river, the Orontes. 
Mountains : Casius, Bargylus, Libanus, and anti-Libanus. 
2d. Phoenicia, the coast-tract from the thirty-fifth to the 
thirty-third parallel, separated from. Syria Proper by the 
ridge of Libanus. Chief towns : Tyre, Sidon, Berytus, Byb- 
lus, Tripolis, Aradus. 3d. Palestine, comprising Galilee, Sa- 
maria, Judsea, and Philistia, or Palestine Proper. Chief 
cities : Jerusalem, Samaria, Azotus or Ashdod, Ascalon, and 
Gaza or Cadytis. Mountains: Hermon, Carmel. liiver, 
Jordan. Northern and Western Syria are mountainous, and 
generally fertile. Eastern Syria is an arid desert, broken 
only by a few oases, of which tlie Palmyrene is the princi- 
pal. 

ii. Arabia, lay south and south-east of Syria. It was a 
country of enormous size, being estimated to contain a mil- 
lion of square miles, or more than one-fourth the area of 
Euroj^e. Consisting, however, as it does, mainly of sandy or 
rocky deserts, its population must always have been scanty, 
and its productions few. In the ancient world it was never 
of much account, the inhabitants being mainly nomads, and 
only the outlying tribes coming into contact with the neigh- 
boring nations. The only important towns were, in the east, 
Gerrha, a great trading settlement ; in the west, Petra and 
Elath. 

iii. Assyria intervened between Syria and Media. It was 
bounded on the north by the snowy chain of Niphates, 
which separated it from Armenia, and on the east by the 
outer ranges of Zagros. Westward its limit Avas the Eu- 
phrates, while southward it adjoined on Babylonia and Su- 
siana. Towards the north and east it included some mount- 
ain tracts ; but in the main it was a great rolling plain, at a 
low level, scantily watered towards the west, where the Eu- 
phrates has few affluents, but well supplied towards the east, 
where Mount Zagros sends down many large streams to join 
the Tigris. Its chief cities Avere Ninus, or Nineveh, Calah, 

2* 



34 ANCIENT HISTORY. [book i. 

and Asshar upon the Tigris ; Arbela in the region between 
the Tigris and Mount Zagros ; Nisibis, Amida, Harran or 
Carrhge, and Circesiuni in the district between the great 
rivers. Its streams, besides the Tigris and Euphrates, were 
the Bilichus (Belik) and the Chaboras (Western Khabour), 
affluents of the Euphrates;' the Centrites (Bitlis Chai), the 
Eastern Khabour, the Zabatus (or Zab Ala), the Caprus (or 
Zab Asfal), and the Gyndes or Physcus (Diyaleh), tributa- 
ries of the Tigris. It contained on the north the mountain 
range of Masius (Jebel Tur and Karajah Dagh). Its chief 
districts w^ere Aturia, or Assyria Proper, the tract about 
Nineveh ; Adiabene, the country between the Upper Zab 
and the Lower ; Chalonitis, the region south of the Lower 
Zab ; and Gozan (or Mygdonia) on the Western Khabour 
at the foot of the Mons Masius. The Greeks called the 
whole tract between the two great rivers Mesopotamia. 

iv. Susis^ Susiana or Cissia, lay south-east of Assyria, and 
consisted chiefly of the low plain between the Zagros range 
and the Tigris, but comprised also a portion of the mount- 
tain region. Its rivers were the Choaspes (Kerkheh), the 
Pasitigris (Kuran), the Eulseus (a branch stream formerly 
running from the Choaspes into the Pasitigris), and the He- 
dypnus (Jerrahi). Capital city, Susa, between the Choaspes 
and Eulseus rivers. 

V. Babylonia lay due south of Assyria, in which it was 
sometimes included. The line of demarkation between them 
was the limit of the alluvium. On the east Babylonia was 
bounded by Susiana, on the west by Arabia, and on the south 
by the Persian Gulf. It was a single alluvial plain of vast 
extent and extraordinary fertility. The chief cities, besides 
Babylon on the Euphrates, were Ur (now Mugheir), Erech 
(Warka), Calneh (Niffer), Cutha (Ibrahim), Sippara or Seph- 
arvaim (Mosaib), and Borsippa (Birs-Nimrud). The more 
southern part of Babylonia, bordering on Arabia and the 
Persian Gulf, was known as Chalda^a. 

{(1) The Peninsula of Hindustan, the last of the four 
great divisions of South-western Asia, contains nearly a mil- 
The Indian ^ic>^i ^^^^ ^ quarter of square miles. Nature has 
Peumsuia. divided it into three A'ery distinct tracts, one to- 
wards the north-west, consisting of the basin drained by the 
Indus ; one towards the east, or the basin drained by the 



FART I.] ASIATIC NATIONS. 35 

Ganges ; and one towards the south, or the peninsula proper. 
Of these the north-western only was connected with the his- 
tory of the ancient world. 

This tract, called India from the river on which it lay, was 
separated off from the rest of Hindustan by a broad belt of 
desert. It comprised two regions — 1st, that known in mod- 
ern times as the Punjab, abutting immediately on the Him- 
alaya chain, and containing about 50,000 square miles; a vast 
triangular plain, intersected by the courses of five great rivers 
(whence Punj-ab = Five Rivers) — the Indus, the Hydaspes 
(Jelum), the Acesines (Chenab), the Hydraotes (Ravee), and 
the Hyphasis (Sutlej), — fertile along their course, but other- 
wise barren. 2dly, the region known as Scinde, or the Indus 
valley below the Punjab, a tract of about the same size, in- 
cluding the rich plain of Cutchi Gandava on the west bank 
of the river, and the broad delta of the Indus towards the 
south. Chief town of the upper region, Taxila (Attok) ; of 
the southern, Pattala (Tatta?). 

B. Preliminary Observations 07i the General Character of 
the Early Asiatic Kingdoms. 

1. The physical conformation of Western Asia is favorable 
to the growth of large empires. In the vast plain which ex- 
Large size of tends from the foot of Niphates and Zagros to the 
thekingdoms. Pej-gian Gulf, the Red Sea, and the Mediterranean, 
there are no natural fastnesses; and the race which is nu- 
merically or physically superior to the other races inhabiting 
it readily acquires dominion over the entire region. Similar- 
ly, only not quite to the same extent, in the upland region 
which succeeds to this plain upon the east, there is a defi- 
ciency of natural barriers, and the nation which once begins 
to excel its neighbors, rapidly extends its influence over a 
wide stretch of territory. The upland and lowland powers 
are generally pretty evenly balanced, and maintain a struggle 
in which neither side gives w^ay ; but occasionally the equal- 
ity becomes deranged. Circumstances give to the one or to 
the other additional strength ; and the result is that its rival 
is overpowered. Then an empire of still greater extent is 
formed, both upland and lowland falling under the sway of 
the same people. 

2. Still more remarkable than this uniformitv of size is tlic 



36 ANCIENT HISTORY. [book i. 

uniformity of governmental type observable throughout all 
TV ,. ,, these empires. The form of government is in 

Despotism the ^ i i i • 

sole form of every case a monarchy; the monarchy is always 
govemmen . i^g^.g^-iitary ; and the hereditary monarch is a des- 
pot. A few feeble checks are in some instances devised for 
the purpose of restraining within certain limits the caprice 
or the cruelty of the holder of power ; but these barriers, 
w-here they exist, are easily overleaped ; and in most cases 
there is not even any such semblance of interference with the 
will of the ruler, who is the absolute master of the lives, lib- 
erties, and property of his subjects. Despotism is the sim- 
plest, coarsest, and rudest of all the forms of civil govern- 
ment. It was thus naturally the first which men, pressed 
by a sudden need, extemporized.- And in Asia the wish has 
never arisen to improve upon this primitive and imperfect 
essay. 

Note as exceptional the power which their independent religious position 
gave to the Jewish high-priests — a power which, however, Avould have been 
trampled upon if it had not been upheld by miracle. (See 2 Chron. xxvi. 
16-21.) 

3. Some variety is observable in the internal organization 

of the empires. In the remoter times it was regarded as 

sufficient to receive the personal submission of 

Differences in , ^ ^ ^ -i -\ . 

the internal the monarch whose land was conquered, to assess 
oroanization. -j^^^ tribute at a certain amount, and then to leave 
him in the unmolested enjoyment of his former dignity. 
The head of an empire was thus a " king of kings," and the 
empire itself was an aggregation of kingdoms. After a while 
an improvement was made on the simplicity of this early 
system. Satraps, or provincial governors, court officials be- 
longing to the conquering nation, and holding their office 
only during the good pleasure of the Great King, were sub- 
stituted for the native monarchs ; and arrangements more or 
less complicated were devised for checking and controlling 
them in the exercise of their authority. The power of the 
head of the empire was thus considerably increased ; and the 
empire acquired a stability unknown under the previous sys- 
tem. Uniformity of administration was to a certain extent 
secured. At the same time, a very great diversity underlay 
this external uniformity, since the conquered nations were 
generally suffered to retain their own language, religion, and 



PART I.] ASIATIC NATIONS. 37 

usages. No eiFort was made even to interfere with their 
laws ; and thus tlie provinces continued, after the lapse of 
centuries, as separate and distinct in tone, feeling, ideas, and 
aspirations, as at the time when they were conquered. The 
sense of separateness was never lost ; the desire of recover- 
ing national independence, at best, slumbered ; nothing was 
wanted but opportunity to stir up the dormant feeling, and 
to shatter the seeming unity of the empire into a thousand 
fragments. 

4. A characteristic of the Oriental monarchies, which very 
markedly distinguishes them from the kingdoms of the West, 

is the prevalence of polygamy. The j^olygamy 
polygamy: its of the uionarcli swclls to excessive numbers the 

hangers-on of the court, necessitates the building 
of a vast palace, encourages effeminacy and luxury, causes 
the annual outlay of enormous sums on the maintenance of 
the royal household, introduces a degraded and unnatural 
class of human beings into positions of trust and dignity ; in 
a word, at once saps the vital force of the empire in its cen- 
tral citadel, and imposes heavy burdens on the mass of the 
population, which tend to produce exhaustion and paralysis 
of the whole body politic. The practice of polygamy among 
the upper classes, destroying the domestic affections by di- 
luting them, degrades and injures the moral character of 
those who give its tone to the nation, lowers their physical 
energy, and renders them self-indulgent and indolent. Nor 
do the lower classes, though their poverty saves them from 
participating directly in the evil, escape unscathed. Yield- 
ing, as they commonly do, to the temptation of taking money 
for their daughters from the proprietors of harems, they lose 
by degrees all feeling of self-respect ; the family bond, cor- 
rupted in its holiest element, ceases to have an elevating in- 
fluence ; and the traffickers in their own flesh and blood be- 
come the ready tools of tyrants, the ready applauders of 
crime, and the submissive victims of every kind of injustice 
and oppression. 

5. The Asiatic Empires were always founded upon con- 
quest ; and conquest implies the possession of military qual- 
„,. itics in the victors superior at any rate to those 

Other causes . / •' 

ofdeciiueaud ot the vanquished nations. Usually the conquer- 
ing people were at first simple in their habits, 



38 ANCIENT HISTORY. [book r. 

brave, hardy, and, comiDaratively speaking, poor. The im- 
mediate consequence of their victory was the exchange of 
poverty for riches; and riches usually brought in their train 
the evils of luxurious living and idleness. The conquerors 
rapidly deteriorated under such influences; and, if it had not 
been for the common practice of confining the use of arms, 
either wholly or mainly, to their own class, they might, in a 
very few generations, have had to change places with their 
subjects. Even in spite of this pracitice they continually de- 
creased in courage and warlike spirit. The monarchs usual- 
ly became /ai^iea?^^ and confined themselves to the precincts 
of tlie palace. The nobles left ofl" altogether the habit of 
athletic exercise. Military expeditions grew to be infre- 
quent. When they became a necessity in consequence of re- 
volt or of border ravages, the deficiencies of the native troops 
had to be supplied by the employment of foreign mercena- 
ries, who cared nothing for the cause in which their swords 
were drawn. Meanwhile, the conquerors were apt to quar- 
rel among themselves. Great satraps would revolt and 
change their governments into independent sovereignties. 
Pretenders to the crown would start up among the monarch's 
nearest relatives, and the strength and resources of the state 
would be Avasted in civil conflicts. The extortion of provin- 
cial governors exhausted the provinces, while the corruption 
of the court Aveakened the empire at its centre. Still, the 
tottering edifice would stand for years, or even for centuries, 
if there Avas no attack from abroad, by a mere vis mertim ; 
but, sooner or later, such an attack Avas sure to come, and 
then the unsubstantial fabric gave Avay at once and crumbled 
to dust under a few bloAvs vigorously dealt by a more Avar- 
likc nation. . 

C. History of the Ancient Asiatic Kingdoms previous to 
Cyrus. 

Sources. 1. Native : including (a) the cuneiform inscriptions of Chal- 
daea, Assyria, and Armenia ; and (6) the fragments of Berosus. 2. Jewish : 
inckiding the historical books from Genesis to Chronicles, and the Avorks of 
the Prophets anterior to Cyrus. 3. Classical writers : as Herodotus, Ctesi- 
as, Diodorus Siculus, and Justin ; with the later chronologers, Eusebius and 
Syncellus. Specimens of the inscriptions themselves have been published in 
the British Museum. Series, edited by Sir H. Raavlinson and Mr. E. Norris 
(London, 1860). A large number have been translated by M. Oppert, in 



PART I.] ASIATIC NATIONS. 39 

his Inscriptions cles Sargonides (Paris, 18G2). The fragments of Berosus 
liave been collected by Mons, C. Muller, and ^vill be found in the Frag- 
vienta Historicorum Grcccorum^ vol. ii. (Paris, 1848). Tiie fragments of 
Ctesias have been collected by Bahr (Frankfurt, 1824), C. Muller (Paris, 
1844), and others. 

The chief modern works treating of this period generally, 
arc — 

BuNSEN, Philosophy/ of Universal History ; 4 vols. 8vo. London, 1854. 
Learned, but wild and extravagant, more especially in its chronology. 

Kawlinson, G., Five Great Monarchies, etc. (see p. 19), vols. i. to iii. 

The subject is also discussed generally by B. G. Niebuhr, in the first vol- 
ume of his Vortrdge iiher alte Geschichte (see p. 18), and by Mr. P. Sjiith in 
the first volume of his Ancient History (see p. 18). 

Among the works which treat of portions of the time, the 
following are of value : 

Geschichte Assurs und Babels seit Phul, by M. Niebuhr. Berlin, 1857. 
Rerum Assyriarum Tempora Emendata, by Brandis. Bonnai, 1853. 
Prophecies relating to Nineveh, by G. Vance Smith. London, 1857. 

Some other modern writers will be named under the heads 
of particular nations. 

I. CHALDEAN MONARCHY. 

1. The earliest of the Asiatic monarchies sprang up in the 
alluvial plain at the head of the Persian Gulf. Here Moses 
places the first "kingdom" (Gen. x. 10); and 
here Berosus regarded a Chaldman monarchy as 
established probably as early as b,c. 2000. The Hebrew 
records give Nimrod as the founder of this kingdom, and 
exhibit Chedorlaomer as lord-paramount in the region not 
very long afterwards. The names of the kings in the lists 
of Berosus are lost; but we are told that he mentioned by 
name forty-nine Chaldcean monarchs, whose reigns covered 
a space of 458 years from about b.c. 2000 to about b.c. 1543. 
The primeval monuments of the country have yielded memo- 
rials of fifteen or sixteen kings, who probably belonged to 
this early period. They were at any rate the builders of the 
most ancient edifices now existing in the country ; and their 
date is long anterior to the time of Sennacherib and Nebu- 
chadnezzar. The phonetic reading of these monumental 
names is too uncertain to justify their insertion here. It 
will be sufficient to give, from Berosus, an outline of the 



40 ANCIENT HISTORY. [book i. 

dynasties which ruled in Chaldaea, from about b.c. 2000 to 
747, the era of Nabonassar : 

Chaldaean dynasty, ruling for 458 years (Kings :>^ about B.C. 2001 to 1543 

Nimrod, Chedorlaomer) ) 

Arabian dynasty, ruling for 245 years about b.c. 1543 to 1298 

Dynasty of forty-five kings, ruling for 526 years about b.c. 1298 to 772 

Reign of Pul (say 25 years) about b.c. 772 to 747 

2. Berosus, it will be observed, marks during this period 
two, if not three, changes of dynasty. After the Chaldseans 

have borne sway for 458 years, they are succeed- 
dynaslyaud ed by Arabs, who hold the dominion for 245 
condition. years, when they too arc superseded by a race 
not named, but probably Assyrian (see p. 42). This race 
bears rule for 526 years, and then Pul ascends the throne, 
and reigns for a term of years not stated. (Pul is called 
" king of Assyria " in Scripture ; but this may be an inex- 
actness, lie is not to be found among the Assyrian monu- 
mental kings.) These changes of dynasty mark changes of 
condition. Under the first or Chaldagan dynasty, and under 
the last monarch, Pul, the country was flourishing and free. 
The second dynasty was probably, and the third certainly, 
established by conquest. Chaldsea, during the 526 years of 
the third dynasty, was of secondary importance to Assyria, 
and though from time to time engaged in wars with the 
dominant power of Western Asia, was in the main submis- 
sive and even subject. The names of six kings belonging to 
this dynasty have been recovered from the Assyrian monu- 
ments. Among them is a Nebuchadnezzar, while the major- 
ity commence with the name of the god Merodach. 

3. The Chaldaean monarchy had from the first an archi- 
tectural character. Babylon, Erech or Orchoe,- Accad, and 
Character of Calneh, were founded by Nimrod. TJr was from 
the monarchy. ^^^^ early date a city of importance. The attempt 
to build a tower " which should reach to heaven," made 
here (Gen. xi. 4), was in accordance with the general spirit 
of the Chaldfean people. Out of such simple and rude ma- 
terials as brick and bitumen vast edifices were constructed, 
pyramid ical in design, but built in steps or stages of con- 
siderable altitude. Other arts also flourished. Letters were 
in* use ; and the baked bricks employed by the royal builders 
had commonly a legend in their centre. Gems w^ere cut. 



I'ART I.J ASIATIC NATIONS. 41 

polished, and ciigi-aved with representations of human forms, 
portrayed witli spirit. Metals of many kinds were worked, 
and fashioned into arms, ornaments, and implements. Tex- 
tile fabrics of a delicate tissue were manufactured. Com- 
merce was carried on w^ith the neighboring nations both by- 
land and sea : the " ships of Ur " visiting the shores of the 
Persian Gulf, and perhaps those of the ocean beyond it. The 
study of Astronomy commenced, and observations of the 
heavenly bodies were made, and carefully recorded. 

According to Simplicius, these observations reached back a period of 1903 
years when Alexander entered Babylon. This would make them commence 
B.C. 2234. 

II. ASSYRIAN MONARCHY. 

PERIODS. 1). OL 

I. Previous to the Conquest of Babylon, which occurred about 1250 

II. From the conquest of Babylon to the accession of Tiglath-pileser II. 745 
III. From the accession of Tiglath-pileser to the fall of Nineveh 625 

1. The traces which we possess of the First Period are 
chiefly monumental. The Assyrian inscriptions furnish two 
„ . , lists — one of three, and the other of four consecu- 

First Period, . , . i • i i t i i i i • ^ 

pri<,rtoB.o. tivc kmgs — wliich belong probably to this early 
time. The seat of empire is at first Asshur (now 
Kileh Sherghat), on the right bank of the Tigris, about sixty 
miles below Nineveh. Some of the kings are connected by- 
intermarriage with the Chaldean monarchs of the period, 
and take part in the struggles of pretenders to the Chald?ean 
crown. One of them, Shalmaneser I., wars in the mountain- 
chain of Niphates, and plants cities in that region (about b.c. 
1270). This monarch also builds Calah (Nimrud), forty miles 
north of Asshur, on the left or east bank of the river. 

Art of this period, rude. Letters, scanty. Cities quadrangular, and sur- 
rounded by walls. Palaces are placed on a lofty mound. Temple-towers 
pyramidical. 

2. The Second Period is evidently that of which Herodotus 
spoke as lasting for 520 years, from about b.c. 1260 to 740. 
Second Peri- ^^ Commenced with the conquest of Babylon by 
o^Bc-1250- Tiglathi-nin (probably the original of the Greek 

" Ninus "), and it terminated with the new dynasty 
established by Tiglath-pileser II. The monuments furnish 
for the earlier portion of this period some nine or ten discon- 
tinuous royal names, while for the later portion they supply 



42 ANCIENT HISTORY. [book i. 

a complete consecutive list, and an exact chronology. The 
exact chronology begins with the year b.c. d09. 

Note, tliat the lists of Ctesias, which should belong to this period, differ 
completely from those of the monuments ; that they are internally improba- 
ble, as they consist in part of Medo-Persian. in part of Greek, in part of geo- 
graphic names ; and that consequently they must be set aside as wholly un- 
historical. 

3. The great king of the earlier portion of the Second Pe- 
riod is a certain Tiglath-pileser, who has left a long histor- 
^ , ,. . . ical inscription, which shows that he carried his 

Subdivision i • -nr ry i -. -■ 

of the period, arms deep into Mount Zagros on the one hand, 
and as far as Northern Syria on the other. He 
likewise made an expedition into Babylonia. Date, about 
B.C. 1 1 30. His son was also a warlike prince ; but from about 
B.C. 1100 to 900 Assyrian history is still almost a blank ; and 
it is probable that we have here a period of depression. 

4. For the later portion of the Second Period — from b.c. 
909 to 745 — the chronology is exact, and the materials for 

history are abundant. In this period Calah be- 

u Q_ 909-745. 

came the capital, and several of the palaces and 
temples were erected which have been disinterred at Nimrud. 
The Assyrian monarch s carried their arms beyond Zagros, 
and came into contact with Medes and Persians ; they deep- 
ly penetrated Armenia ; and they pressed from Northern into 
Southern Syria, and imposed their yoke upon the Phosnicians, 
the kingdom of Damascus, and the kingdom of Israel. The 
names of Ben-hadad, Hazael, Ahab, and Jehu are common to 
the Assyrian and Hebrew records. Towards the close of the 
period, the kings became slothful and un warlike, military ex- 
peditions ceased, or were conducted only to short distances 
and against insignificant enemies. 

Line OF Kings : — Asshur-danin-il I. Reign ended, b.c. 909. Successor, 
his son, llu-likh-khus III. (Iva-lush). Reigned from B.C. 909 to 889. Suc- 
cessor, his son Tiglathi-nin II. Reigned from B.C. 889 to 88G. Warred in 
Niphates. Asshur-idanni-pal I. (Sardanapalus), his son, succeeded. A great 
conqueror. Warred in Zagros, Armenia, Western Mesopotamia, Syria, and 
Babylonia. Received the submission of the chief Phoenician towns. Built 
a. great palace at Calah. Reigned from b.c, 886 to 858. Followed on the 
throne by his son, Shalmaneser II., who reigned from B.C. 858 to 823, and 
was contemporary with Ben-hadad and Hazael of Damascus, and with Ahab 
and Jehu in Israel. Built a palace and set up an obelisk at Calah. Warred 
in the same countries as his father, and likewise in the highland beyond 



PART I.] ASIATIC NATIONS. 43 

Zagros, where he contended with the Medes and Persians ; also in Lower 
Syria, where he was engaged against Ben-luidad, Hazael, and Ahab, and re- 
ceived tribute from Jehu. Succeeded on the throne by his son, Shamas-iva 
or Samsi-hu, who reigned from B.C. 823 to 810. This king had wars with 
the Medes, Persians, Armenians, and Babylonians. His successor was his 
son, Hu-likh-khus IV. (Iva-lush), who mounted the throne B.C. 810 and 
reigned till B.C. 781. He too was a warlike monarch. He took Damascus, 
and received tribute from Samaria, Philistia, and Edom. Babylonia ac- 
knowledged his sovereignty. His wife bore the name of Sammuramit (Sem- 
iramis). The next king was Shalmaneser III., who reigned from b.c. 781 
to 771. His Avars were with Eastern Armenia and the Syrians of Damascus 
and Hadrach. He was succeeded by Asshur-danin-il II., a comparatively 
unwarlike prince, under whom military expeditions became infrequent. In 
the ninth year of this king's reign an eclipse of the sun is recorded as having 
taken place in the month Sivan (June) — undoubtedly the eclipse of June 15 
of that year, which was visible over the whole of Western Asia. Asshur- 
danin-il reigned from b.c. 771 to 753. He was succeeded by the last mon- 
arch of this series, Asshur-likh-khus, or Asshur-lush, who reigned ingloriously 
for eight years — from b.c. 753 to 715. 

5. The Assyrian art of the Second shows a great advance 
upon that of the First Period. Magnificent palaces were 
Art, etc., of built, I'ichly" embellished with bas-reliefs. Sculp- 
this period, ^y^.g ^^^s rigid, but bold and grand. Literature 
was more cultivated. The history of each reign was written 
by contemporary annalists, and cut on stone, or impressed 
on cylinders of baked clay. Engraved stelcB were erected 
in all the countries under Assyrian rule. Considerable com- 
munication took place with foreign countries ; and Bactrian 
camels, baboons, curious antelopes, elephants, and rhinoce- 
roses were imported into Assyria from the East. 

The art of this period is largely illustrated in the Monuments of Nineveh, 
First Series. By A. H. La yard ; folio. London, 1819. 

6. In the Third Period the Assyrian Empire reached the 
height of its greatness under the dynasty of the Sargonidas, 
Third Period, after which it fell Suddenly, owing to blows re- 
ii.c. 745-625. ceived from two jDOwerful foes. The period com- 
menced with a revival of the military spirit and vigor of the 
nation under Tiglath-pileser II., the king of that name men- 
tioned in Scripture. Distant expeditions were resumed, and 
the arms of Assyria carried into new regions. Egypt was 
attacked and reduced ; Susiana was subjugated ; and in Asia 
Minor Taurus was crossed, Cappadocia invaded, and relations 
established witli the Lydian monarch, Gyges. Naval expe- 



44 ANCIENT HISTORY. [kook i. 

ditioiis were undertaken both in the Mediterranean and the 
Persian Gulf. Cyprus submitted, and the Assyrian monarchs 
numbered Greeks among their subjects. Almost all the 
kim^s of the period came into contact with the Jews, and the 
names of most of them appear in the Hebrew records. To- 
wards the close of the period the empire sustained a severe 
shock from the sudden invasion of vast hordes of Scythians 
from the North. Before it could recover from the prostration 
caused by this attack, its old enemy. Media, fell upon it, and, 
assisted by Babylon, effected its destruction. 

Line of Kings of the Third Period: — 1. Tiglath-pileser II., an 
usurper, ascends the throne b.c. 745, two years after Nabonassar in Babylon. 
Wars in Babylonia, Media, Armenia, Southern Syria, and Palestine. Re- 
ceives tribute from Menahem, about b.c. 743. Takes Damascus, attacks 
Pekah of Israel, and accepts the submission of Ahaz of Judah, about B.C. 
734 to 732. 2. Shalmaneser IV. ; his first year b.c. 727. Leads several ex- 
peditions into Palestine. Conquers Phoenicia, except the island Tyre, which 
he attacks by sea: his fleet sufters a defeat. In b.c. 723 commences the 
siege of Samaria. Loses his croAvn by a revolution after reigning six years. 
3. Sargon, an usurper; ascends the throne b.c. 721. Takes Samaria and 
settles the Israelites in Gauzanitis and Media. Successful war with Shebek 
I. (Sabaco) of Egypt for the possession of Philistia. Defeat and capture of 
Merodach-baladan in Babylonia, b.c. 709. Submission of Cypnis, b.c. 708 
to 707. Invasion of Susiana. Conquest of Media. Wars in Niphates and 
Taurus. 4. Sennacherib, son of Sargon, succeeds, B.C. 705. Expedition 
against Babylon, B.C. 702. Deposes Merodach-baladan and sets up Belibus. 
First expedition into Palestine, B.C. 700. Submission of Elulceus of Sidon, 
and Hezekiah of Judah. Second expedition into Babylonia, B.C. G99. Beli- 
bus deposed, and Assaranadius, or Asordanes, son of Sennacherib, made 
king. Second expedition into Palestine, about b.c. 698. Great destruction 
of the Assyrian army near Pelusium, on the borders of Egypt. War Avith 
Susiana ; a fleet launched on Persian Gulf, about b.c. 092 to G90. Conquest 
of Cilicia and founding of Tarsus, about b.c. 685. Murder of Sennacherib 
by two of his sons, B.C. 680. 5. Esarhaddon, son of Sennacherib, obtains 
the crown after a short struggle. Reigns alternately at Babylon and Nin- 
eveh. Puts down revolts in Syria and Cilicia, about b.c. 680 to 677. Con- 
quers Edom, about B.C. 674. Invades Central Arabia, b.c. 673. Reduces 
Northern Media, b.c. 671. Great expedition into Egypt, about B.C. 670. 
Defeat of Tirhakah (Taracus). Egypt broken up into a number of petty 
kingdoms. Revolt and reduction of Manasseh, king of Judah. Colonization 
of Samaria with Babylonians, Susianians, and Persians. 6. Asshur-bani-pal 
(Sardanapalus), son of Esarhaddon, succeeds, about B.C. 667, or a little later. 
Under him Assyria reaches the culminating point of her greatness. He re- 
conquered Egypt, which had been recovered by Tirhakah ; invaded Asia 
Minor, and received tribute from Gyges, king of Lydia ; subjugated most of 
Armenia; completely conquered Susiana and attached it as a province to 



PART I.] ASIATIC NATIONS. 45 

Babylonia ; nnd reduced many outlying tribes of Arabs. He built the most 
magnificent of all the Assyrian palaces ; loved music and the arts ; and es- 
tablished a sort of royal library at Nineveh. His last year is uncertain ; 
but was probably about b.c. 647. 7. Asshur-emid-ilin (the Saracus of Aby- 
denus), son of Asshur-bani-pal, succeeded. But little is known of his reign ; 
its two great events were the inroad of a vast Scythic horde from the tract 
north of the Caucasus, and the Median Avar Avhich brought about the destruc- 
tion of the empire. First attack of the Medes, b.c. 634, repulsed. Scythian 
inroad, B.C. 632. Second Median attack, b.c. 627. Defection of the Baby- 
lonians under Nabopolassar. Siege of Nineveh. Capture, b. c. 625. 

7. Assyrian art attained to its greatest perfection during 
this last period. Palaces were built by Tiglatli-pileser II. at 
Art etc of ^^i^^5 ^7 ^^rgon at Dur Sargina (Khorsabad), by 
the Third Pe- Sennacherib at Nineveh, by Esarhaddon at Calah 
and Nineveh, by Sardanapalus II. at Nineveh, and 
by Saracus at Calah. Glyptic art advanced, especially nnder 
Sardanapalus, when the animal forms were executed with a 
naturalness and a spirit worthy of the Greeks. At the same 
time carving in ivory, metallurgy, modelling, and other simi- 
lar arts made much progress. An active commerce nnited 
Assyria with Phoenicia, Egypt, and Greece. Learning of vari- 
ous kinds — astronomic, geographic, linguistic, historical — was 
pursued ; and stores were accumulated which will long ex- 
ercise the ingenuity of the moderns. 

The best illustrations of Assyrian art during this period will be found in the 
Monument de Ninive of Mons. Botta (Paris, 1841)-50), 5 a'oIs. folio ; and 
in Mr. Layard's Monuments of Nineveh, Second Series (London, 1853). 
On Assyrian architecture, consult The Palaces of Nineveh and Persepolis Re- 
stored, hy Mr, James Fergusson (London, 1851) ; and the Assyrian sec- 
tion in his Historjj of Architecture, vol. i. (London, 1866). 

III. MEDIAN MONARCHY. 

PEEIODS. B.C. 

L Media Independent 830-710 

II. Media subject to Assyria 7lt)-650 

1 . The primitive history of the Medes is enveloped in great 
obscurity. The mention of them as Madai in Genesis (x. 2), 
^ , ^, , and the statement of Berosus that they furnished 

Early history, t-, t i • i i • • 

an early dynasty to Babylon, imply then- mi23or- 
tance in very ancient times. But scarcely any thing is knoimi 
of them till the ninth century b.c., when they were attacked 
in their own proper country, Media Magna, by the Assyrians 
(about B.C. 830). At this time they were under the govern- 



46 ANCIENT HISTORY. [book i. 

ment of numerous petty chieftains, and offered but a weak 
resistance to the arms of the Assyrian monarchs. No part 
of their country, however, was reduced to subjection until 
the time of Sargon, who conquered some Median territory 
about B.C. VlO, and planted it with cities in Avhich he placed 
his Israelite captives. The subsequent Assyrian monarchs 
made further conquests ; and it is evident from their records 
that no great Median monarchy had arisen down to the mid- 
dle of the seventh century b.c. 

The earlier portions of the ZendaA^esta indicate the existence of powerful 
Arian states on the great plateau of Iran and in the low districts east of the 
Caspian at a very remote period ; but they contain no mQjjtion at all of the 
Medes. Bactria seems to have been the seat of Arian power in these primi- 
tive times. 

2. The earliest date which, with our present knowledge, 
Ave can assign for the commencement of a great Median mon- 
iiistovyac- archy is B.C. 650. The monarchs assigned by 
Hemdotus Hcrodotus and Ctesias to a time anterior to this 
aud ctesias. ^-jay conceivably have been chiefs of petty Median 
tribes, but were certainly not the heads of the whole nation. 
The probability is that they are fictitious personages. Sus- 
picion attaches especially to the list of Ctesias, which appears 
to have been formed by an intentional duplication of the reg- 
nal and other periods mentioned by Herodotus. 

(a) Median History of Herodotus. — The Medes revolt from Assyria, about 
B.C. 740. Conquer tlieir independence and continue for a number of years 
without a monarch. Deioces chosen king, b.c. 708. Reigns fifty- three years. 
Founds Ecbatana, and introduces a rigid court ceremonial. Dies B.C. G55. 
Phraortes, his son, succeeds. Reigns tAventy-two years. Conquers Persia. 
Attacks Assyria. Killed while besieging Nineveh, b.c. 633. Cyaxares, his 
son, reigns from B.C. 633 to 593, forty years. Reorganizes the army. Re- 
news the attack on Assyria. War interrupted by irruption of the Scyths. 
Takes* Nineveh. "Wars with Alyattes, king of Lydia, b.c. 615 to 610. Dies 
B.C. 593. Astyages, his son, reigns thirty-five years, from b.c. 593 to 558, 
when he is dethroned by his grandson, Cyrus. 

(h) Median History of Ctesias. — The Medes, having revolted from Assyria, 
take and destroy Nineveh, in conjunction with the Babylonians, b.c. 875. 
Arbaces ascends the throne. Reigns twenty-eight years, B.C. 875 to 847. 
Maudaces reigns fifty years, b.c. 847 to 797. Sosarmus, thirty years, b.c 
797 to 767. Astycas, fifty years, B.C. 767 to 717. Arbianes, twenty-two 
years, b.c. 717 to 695. Artceus, forty years, b.c. 695 to 655. Artyneg, 
twenty-two years, B.C. 655 to 633. Astibaras, forty years, b.c. 633 to 593. 
Astyages, x years, the last king. (Note the prevalence of round numbers, 



I'ART i.J ASIATIC NATIONS. 47 

the repetition of every number but one, an'd the fact that of the eight num- 
bers six are evidently taken from Herodotus. ) 

3. There is reason to believe that about b.c. 650, or a little 
later, the Medes of Media Magna were largely reinforced by- 
fresh immii^rants from the East, and that shortly 

Real history _ ^ ^ , i i t i ^- 

from B.o. 660- aiterwards they were enabled to take an aggress- 
^^^' ive attitude towards Assyria, such as had previ- 

ously been quite beyond their power. In b.c. 633 — accord- 
ing to Herodotus — they attacked Nineveh, but were com- 
pletely defeated, their leader, whom he calls Phraortes, being 
slain in the battle. Soon after this occurred the Scythian in- 
road, which threw the Medes upon the defensive, and hin- 
dered them from resuming their schemes of conquest for sev- 
eral years. But, Avhen this danger had passed, they once 
more invaded the Assyrian Empire in force. Nineveh was 
invested and fell. Media upon this became the leading povv^er 
of Western Asia, but was not the sole power, since the spoils 
of Assyria were divided between her and Babylon. 

Historical Kings : — 1. Phraortes (name doubtful). Conquers Persia. 
Attacks Nineveh. Falls there, b.c. 633. 2, Cyaxares, his son, the great 
Median monarch. Attacks Nineveh, b. c. 632. Called off to resist the Scyths. 
Second attack on Nineveh succeeds, b.c. 625. Conquers all Asia between 
the Caspian and the Halys. Invades Asia Minor and wars against Alyattes, 
B.C. 615 to 610. Dies, b.c. 593. 3. Astyages, his son, ascends the throne. 
His peaceful reign. Media allied with Lydia and B.ibylon. Revolt of the 
Persians under Cyrus brings the Median Empire to an end, B.C. 558. Media 
long remains the first and most important of the Persian pi'ovinces. 

4. Less is known of Median art and civilization than of As- 
syrian, Babylonian, or Persian. Their architecture appears 
General char- to have posscssed a barbaric magnificence, but not 
d?au civiiiza- i^i^ich of either grandeur or beauty. The great 
tio"- palace at Ecbatana was of wood, plated with gold 

and silver. After the conquest of Nineveh, luxurious habits 
were adopted from the Assyrians, and the court of Astyages 
was probably as splendid as that of Esarhaddon and Sarda- 
napalus. The chief known peculiarity of the Median king- 
dom was the ascendency exercised in it by the Magi — a priest- 
ly caste claiming supernatural powers, Avhich had, apparent- 
ly, been adopted into the nation. 



48 ASIATIC NATIONS. [book i. 



IV. BABYLONIAN MONARCHY. 

PEEI0D8. B.C. 

I. From the era of Nabonassar to the destruction of Nineveh 747-625 

11. From the destruction of Nineveh and establishment of Babylo- 

nian independence under Nabopolassar to the conquest of 
Babylon by Cyrus 625-538 

1. After the conquest of Babylonia by the Assyrians, about 
B.C. 1250, an Assyrian cljmasty was established at Babylon, 
First Period ^^^ ^^^^ couutry was, in general, content to hold a 
B.C. 747-625. secondary position in Western Asia, acknowledg- 
ing the suzerainty of the Ninevite kings. From time to time 
efforts were made to shake off the yoke, but without much 
success till the accession of Nabonassar, b.c. 747. Under 
Nabonassar and several of his successors Babylonia appears 
to have been independent ; and this condition of independ- 
ence continued, with intervals of subjection, down to the ac- 
cession of Esarhaddon, b.c, .680, when Assyrian supremacy 
was once more established. Babylon then continued in a 
subject position, till the time when Nabopolassar made alli- 
ance with Cyaxares, joined in the last siege of Nineveh, and, 
when Nineveh fell, became independent, b.c. 625. 

Line of Kings during this Period (chief authority, tlie famous Canon 
of Ptolemy): — 1. Nabonassar. Reigned fourteen years, b.c. 747 to 733. 
Destroyed the records of the monarchs who had preceded him. 2. Nadius, 
reigned two years, B.C. 733 to 731. 3. Chinzinus and Porus, reigned five 
years, b.c. 731 to 726. 4. Elulreus, reigned five years, b.c. 726 to 721. 5. 
Merodach-baladan, reigned twelve years, b.c. 721 to 709. Embassy to Hez- 
ekiah, about B.C. 713. Conquered and made prisoner by Sargon. 6. Ar- 
ceanus, an Assyrian viceroy, placed on the throne by Sargon, reigned five 
years, b.c 709 to 70i. After an interregnum of more than a year, Mero- 
dach-baladan, who had escaped from captivity, recovered the throne, and 
reigned six months, when he was driven out by Sennacherib, who placed on 
the throne a viceroj'. 7. Belibus; he reigned from b.c. 702 to 699. Sus- 
pected of treason by Sennacherib and deprived of his government. 8. Assa- 
i-anadius, a son of Sennacherib, succeeds. He reigns six years, B.C. 699 to 
693. Babylon twice revolts and is reduced. 9. Regibelus (probably an As- 
syrian viceroy) reigns a year, b.c. 693 to 692. 10. Mesesimordachus (also 
probably a viceroy) reigns four years, b.c. 692 to 688. A period of anarchy 
and disturbance follows, coinciding with the last eight 3'ears of Sennacherib. 
No king reigns so long as a year. 11. Esarhaddon conquers Babylon, takes 
the title of king, builds himself a palace there, and reigns alternately at Baby- 
lon and Nineveh. He holds the throne for thirteen years, b.c. 680 to 667. 

12. Saos-duchinus, son of Esarhaddon, is made viceroy by his father or bi'oth- 
er, and governs Babylon for twenty years, from b.c. 667 to 647. 13. Cin- 



PAKT I.] BABYLONIA. 49 

neladanus (eitlier fin Assyrian viceroy, or the last Assyrian monarch him- 
self) succeeds Saos-duehinus, and holds the throne for twenty-two years, from 
IJ.C. 647 to 625. 

2. During the Second Period, Babylonia was not only an 
independent kingdom, but was at the head of an empire, 
secoud Peri- Nabopolassar and Cyaxares divided the Assyrian 
ufan ?mpn-e^ dominions between them, the former obtaining for 
It. o. 625-538. }^ig share Susiana, the Euphrates valley, Syria, 
Phoenicia, and Palestine. A brilliant period followed. At 
iirst indeed the new empire was threatened by Egypt ; and 
for a few years the western provinces were actually held in 
subjection by Pharaoh-nechoh ; but Babylon now aroused 
herself, defeated Nechoh, recovered her territory, and carry- 
ing her arms through Palestine into Egypt, chastised the ag- 
gressor on his own soil. From this time till the invasion of 
Cyrus the empire continued to flourish, but became gradually 
less and less warlike, and offered a poor resistance to the 
Persians. 

Line of Kings : — 1. Nabopolassar. Becomes independent on the fall of 
Nineveh, b.c. 625- Assists Cyaxares in his Lydian war, B.C. 615 to 610, 
and brings about the peace which ends it. Loses the western provinces to 
Nechoh of Egypt, b.c. 608. Sends Nebuchadnezzar to recover them, b.c. 
605. Dies, b.c. 604. 2. Nebuchadnezzar, his son, returns victorious from 
Syria, and is acknowledged as king. Wars in Phoenicia, Palestine, and 
Egypt. Takes and destroys Jerusalem, b.c. 586. Takes Tyre, b.c. 585. 
Recognized as lord-pammount of Egypt, about b.c. 569. Period of the con- 
straction of great works, b.c. 585 to 570. Madness — recovery. Death, b.c. 
561. 3. Evil-merodach, his son, succeeds. Reigns only two years. Mur- 
dered by his brother-in-law. 4. Neriglissar (or Nergal-shar-uzur), who suc- 
ceeds, B.C. 559 (his wife perhaps the Nitocris of Herodotus). Builds the 
western palace at Babylon. Dies after a reign of four years, b.c. 555. 5. 
Laborosoarchod, or Labossoracus, his son, a mere boy, mounts the throne. 
He is murdered after a few months by 6. Nabonadius (Labynetus), the last 
.king. Not being of royal birth, he married a daughter of Nebuchadnezzar 
(probably Neriglissar's widow), and as soon as his son by this marriage, Bel- 
shazzar (Bel-shar-uzur), is of sufficient age, associates him on the throne. 
Makes alliance with Croesus of Lydia, b.c. 555. Constructs the river de- 
fenses at Babylon. Attacked by Cyrus and defeated— throws himself into 
Borsippa. Babylon, carelessly defended by Belshazzar, is taken by strat- 
agem. Nabonadius surrenders himself a prisoner, b.c. 538. 

3. The architectural works of the Babylonians, more espe- 
cially under Nebuchadnezzar, were of surpassing grandeur. 
The " hanging gardens " of that prince, and the walls with 
which he surrounded Babylon, were reckoned among the Seven 

3 



50 ASIATIC NATIONS. [book i. 

„, , . Wonders of the "World. The materials used were 

Characteris- . , ^, , t 

tics of the em- the saiiie as in the early Chaldsean times, sunburnt 
ticture, art, ^ and baked brick ; but the baked now preponder- 
^^^' ated. The ornamentation of buildings was by- 

bricks of different hues, or sometimes by a plating of pre- 
cious metal, or by enamelling. By means of the last-named, 
process, war-scenes and hunting-scenes were represented on 
the walls of palaces, which are said to have been life-like and 
spirited. Temple-towers were still built in stages, which now 
sometimes reached the number of seven. Useful works of 
great magnitude were also constructed by some of the kings, 
especially by Nebuchadnezzar and Nabonadius; such as ca- 
nals, reservoirs, embankments, sluices, and piers on the shores 
of the Persian Gulf Commerce flourished, and Babylon was 
reckoned emphatically a " city of merchants." The study of 
astronomy Avas also pursued w^itli zeal and industry. Ob- 
servations were made and carefully recorded. The sky was 
maj^ped out into constellations, and the fixed stars were cata- 
logued. Occultations of the planets by the sun and moon 
were noted. Time was accurately measured by means of 
sun-dials, and other astronomical instruments were probably 
invented. At the same time it must be confessed that the 
astronomical science of the Babylonians Avas not pure, but 
was largely mixed with astrology, more especially in the 
later times. 

On the commerce of the Babylonians, see the section upon the subject i:i 
Heeren's Historical Researches, "Asiatic Nations," vol. ii. On their as- 
tronomy, see Sir G. C. Lewis's Astronomy of the Ancients, ch. v., and G, 
Rawlinson, Five Monarchies, "Babylonia," ch. v. For illustrations of 
Babylonian art (mixed, however, with Assyrian and Persian), see Culli- 
MORE, Oriental Cylinders, London, 1842, 8vo ; and F. Lajard, Culte de 
Mithra, Paris, 1847, folio. 

V. KINGDOMS IN ASIA MINOR. 

1. The geographical formation of Asia Minor, which sepa- 
rates it into a number of distinct and isolated regions, was 
No empire in probably the main reason why it did not in early 
ui^eariy^"^ ^" times become the seat of a great empire. The 
times. j^ear equality of strength that existed among sev- 

eral of the races by which it was inhabited — as the Phryg- 
ians, the Lydians, the Carians, the Cilicians, the Paphlago- 



PART I.] LYDIA. 51 

nians, and the Cappadocians — would tend naturally in the 
same direction, and lead to the formation of several parallel 
kingdoms instead of a single and all-embracing one. Nev- 
ertheless, ultimately, such a great kingdom did grow up ; 
but it had only just been formed when it was subverted by 
one more powerful. 

2. The most powerful state in the early times seems to 
have been Phrygia. It had an extensive and fertile terri- 
Kingdom of tory, especially suited for pasturage, and was also 
Phrygia. ^.j^j^ ^^ ^l^g possession of Salt lakes, which largely 
furnished that necessary of life. The people were brave, but 
somewhat brutal. They had a lively and martial music. It 
is probable that they were at no time all united into a single 
community ; but there is no reason to doubt that a consider- 
able monarchy grew up in the north-western portion of the 
country, about B.C. 750 or earlier. The capital of the king- 
dom was Gordiseum on the Sangarius. The monarchs bore 
alternately the two names of Gordias and Midas. As many 
as four of each name have been distinguished by some crit- 
ics ; but the dates of the reigns are uncertain. A Midas ap- 
pears to have been contemporary with Alyattes (about b.c. 
600 to 570), and a Gordias with Croesus (b.c. 570 to 560). 
Phrygia was conquered and became a province of Lydia 
about B.C. 560. 

3. Cilicia was likewise the seat of a monarchy in times 
anterior to Cyrus. About b.c. 711 Sargon gave the country 
Kingdom of to Ambris, king of Tubal, as a dowry with his 
Ciiicia. daughter. Sennacherib, about b.c. 701, and Esar- 
haddon, about b.c. 677, invaded and ravaged the region. 
Tarsus was founded by Sennacherib, about b.c. 685. In b.c. 
666 Sardanapalus took to wife a Cilician princess. Fifty 
years afterwards we find a Syennesis seated on the throne, 
and from this time all the kings appear to have borne that 
name or title. Cilicia maintained her independence against 
Croesus, and (probably) against Cyrus, but submitted to Per- 
sia soon afterwards, probably in the reign of Cambyses. 

4. Ultimately the most important of all the kingdoms of 
Asia Minor was Lydia. According to the accounts which 
^^ ^ ,. Herodotus followed, a Lydian kingdom had ex- 

The Lvdian . t ^ . . ^ , 

kingdom aud istcd irom very ancient times, monarchs to whom 
empue. ^^ gives the name of Manes, Atys, Lydus, and 



52 ASIATIC NATIONS. [book i. 

Meles, having borne sway in Lydia prior to b.c. 1229. This 
dynasty, which has been called Atyadae, was followed by 
one of Heraclida3, which continued in }30wer for 505 years — 
from B.C. 1229 to 724. (The last six kings of this dynasty 
are known from Nicholas of Damascus who follows Xanthus, 
the native writer. They were Adyattes I., Ardys, Adyattes 
IL, Meles Myrsus, and Sadyattes or Candaules.) On the 
murder of Candaules, b.c. 724, a third dynasty — that of the 
Mermnadse — bore rule. This continued till b.c. 554, when 
the last Lydian monarch, Croesus, was conquered by Cyrus. 
This monarch had previously succeeded in changing his 
kingdom into an empire, having extended his dominion over 
all Asia Minor, excepting Lycia, Cilicia, and Cappadocia. 

Dynasty of the MERMif ad^ (according to the chronology of Herodotus) : 

1. Gyges murders Candaules, and mounts the throne, b.c. 724. Reigns 
thirty-eight years. Takes Colophon. Attacks Miletus. Dies, b.c. 686. 

2. Ardys, his son, succeeds. Takes Priene'. Irruption of Cimmerians. 
Dies, B.C. 637. 3. Sadyattes, his son, reigns twelve years, from b.c. 637 to 
625. Wars with Miletus. 4. Alyattes, son of Sadyattes, mounts the throne. 
Expels the Cimmerians. Makes peace with Miletus, b.c. 620. Carries on 
defensive war against Cyaxares of Media, b.c. 615 to 610. Takes Smyrna. 
Attacks Clazomenas. Dies, b.c. 568. 5. Croesus, his son, succeeds. He- 
duces the Ionian, iEolian, and Dorian Greeks. Conquers all Asia Minor 
west of the Halys, except Lycia and Cilicia. Alarmed at the success of 
Cyrus, makes alliance with Sparta, Egypt, and Babylon, b.c, 555. Invades 
Cappadocia, and fights an indecisive battle at Pteria. Attacked in his turn, 
defeated, and made prisoner by Cyrus, b. c. 554. 

Chronology of this dynasty, according to Eusebius: — Gyges, thirty-six 
years, B.C. 698 to 662. Ardys, thirty-eight years, b.c. 662 to 624. Sad}-- 
attes, fifteen years, b.c. 624 to 609. Alyattes, forty-nine years, B.C. 609 to 
560. Croesus, fifteen years, b.c. 560 to 546. 



VI. PHCENICIA. 
1. PiiGENiciA, notwithstanding the small extent of its ter- 
ritory, which consisted of a mere strip of land betAveen the 
Importance crest of Lebanon and the sea, was one of the most 
its^Sy^' important countries of the ancient world. In her 
frasmeutary. ^\^q commercial Spirit first showed itself as the 
dominant spirit of a nation. She was the carrier between 
the East and the West — the link that bound them together 
— in times anterior to the first appearance of the Greeks as 
navigators. No complete history of Phoenicia has come 
down to Its, nor can a continuous history be constructed ; 



PART I.] PHOENICIA. 53 

but some important fnigments remain, and the general eon- 
dition of the country, alternating between subjection and 
independence, is ascertained sufficiently. 

The chief sources for Phoenician history are — 1. The fragments of Mk- 
NANDEK and Dius preserved to us in Josepiius. (Menander and Dius 
composed their histories from native sources.) 2. The sacred writers, Eze- 
kiel, and the authors of Kings and Chronicles. 3. Scattered notices in Ho- 
mer, Herodotus, and other classical authors. 

The best modern authorities on the subject are the follow- 
ing : 

Movers, Die Phonizier, 3 vols. 8vo. Berlin, 1841-50, A work of great 
research and of a Avide grasp, but allowing undue weight to Philo-Byblius's 
pretended translation of the Phoenician history of Sanchoxiathon. 

Kenrick, J., Phoenicia. London, 1855 ; 8vo. The best work on the sub- 
ject. Carries the history down to the conquest of Syria by the Turks, 
A.D. 151G. 

Heeren, Ideen, vol. ii., part i. Peculiarly good with respect to the com- 
merce of the Phoenicians. 

TwiSTLETON, Hon. E. T. B., Articles on Phoenicia and Tyre in Dr. 
Smith's Dictionary of the Bible. London, 18G0-3. 

2. At no time did Phoenicia form either a single central- 
ized state, or even an organized confederacy. Under ordi- 
^ , ,. , nary circumstances the states were separate and 

Isolation of ^ ,.. ^, tit 

the cities. independent : only m times of danger did they 
emineuccof occasioiially uiiitc Under the leadership of the 
^'^""' most powerful. The chief cities were Tyre, Si- 

don, Berytus, Byblus, Tiipolis, and Aradus. Of these Sidon 
seems to have been the most ancient ; and there is reason to 
believe that, prior to about b.c. 1050, she was the most flour- 
ishing of all the PhcEiiician communities. 

3. The priority and precedency enjoyed by Sidon in the 
remoter times devolved upon Tyre (her colony, according to 
Sidon super- some) about B.C. 1050. The defeat of Sidon by 
about B^o'^"^^ the Philistines of Ascalon is said to have caused 
1050. the transfer of power. Tyre, and indeed every 
Phoenician city, was under the rule of kings ; but the priest- 
ly order had considerable influence ; and an aristocracy of 
birth, or wealth, likewise restrained any tyrannical inclina- 
tions on the part of the monarch. The list of the Tyrian 
kings from about b.c. 1050 to 830 is known to us from the 
fragments of Menander. 



54 ASIATIC NATIONS. [book i. 

Line of Kings : — 1. Abibaal, partly contemporaiy with David. 2. Hi- 
ram, his son, the friend of David and Solomon. Ascended the throne about 
B.C. 1025. Reigned thirty-four years. 3. Baleazar, his son, succeeded, about 
B.C. 901. Keigned seven years. 4. Abdastartus, his son, reigned nine years, 
from about B.C. 984 to 975, when he was murdered by a conspiracy. 5. One 
of the conspirators — name unknown — succeeded, and reigned twelve years, 
from about B.C. 975 to 963. The line of Abibaal seems then to have been 
restored. G. Astartus, reigned also tw.elve years, from about b.c. 963 to 
951, when he was succeeded by his brother. 7. Aserymus, who, after a 
reign of nine years, was murdered by another brother, Phales, about b.c. 942. 
8. Phales reigned eight months only, being in his turn murdered by the 
high-priest of Astarte, Ithobalus or Ethbaal, who seized the throne. 9. Ith- 
obalus reigned thirty-two years, about b.c. 941 to 909. Ahab married his 
daughter Jezebel. Great drought in his reign. 10. Badezor, his son, suc- 
ceeded. Reigned six years only, from about b.c. 909 to 903. 11. Matgen, the 
son of Badezor and father of Dido, then mounted the throne. His reign last- 
ed thirty-two years, about b.c. 903 to 871. Matgen was followed by his son. 
12. Pygmalion, under whom occurred the flight of Dido and the coloniza- 
tion of Carthage. He reigned forty-seven 'years, from about B.C. 871 to 824. 

4. The commercial spirit of Phosnicia was largely display- 
ed during this period, which, till towards its close, was one 
Phceuician ^^ absolute independence. The great monarchies 
coiouies. Qf Egypt and Assyria were now, comparatively 

speaking, weak ; and the states between the Euphrates and 
the African border, being free from external control, were 
able to pursue their natural bent without interference. Her 
commercial leanings early induced Phoenicia to begin the 
practice of establishing colonies; and the advantages which 
the system was found to secure caused it to acquire speedily 
a vast development. The coasts arid islands of the Mediter- 
ranean- were rapidly covered with settlements; the Pillars 
of Hercules Avere passed, and cities built on the shores of 
the ocean. At the same time factories were established in 
the Persian Gulf; and, conjointly with the Jews, on the Red 
Sea. Phoenicia had at this time no serious commercial rival, 
and the trade of the world was in her hands. 

Geographical sketch of the Phoenician colonies :— (a) In the Eastern Med- 
iten*anean : Paphos, Amathus, Tamisus, and Ammochosta in Cyprus ; laly- 
sus and Camirus in Rhodes ; Thera, and most of the Cyclades ; Thasos ; 
Thebes (?). (b) In the Western Mediterranean : Lilybseum and Panormus 
(Mahaneth) in Sicily ; Gaulos, Melite ; Utica, Carthage, and Hadrumetum 
in North Africa; Carteia, Malaca in Spain, (r) Beyond the straits: Tar- 
tessus on the Bcetis (Guadalquiver) and Gac]es (now Cadiz) on an island 
close to the Spanish coast, (d) In the Persian Gulf: Tylos and Aradus 
(perhaps Bahrein). 



PART I.] PHCENICIA. 55 

5. The geographical position of the Phoenician colonies 
marks the chief lines of their trade, but is far from indicat- 
Sea-trade; its ing its full extent; since the most distant of these 
chil?iiues of Settlements served as starting-points whence voy- 
diiection. agcs were made to remoter regions. Phoenician 
merchantmen proceeding from Gades and Tartessus explored 
the western coast of Africa, and obtained tin from Cornwall 
and the Scilly Islands. The traders of Tylns and Aradus 
extended their voyages beyond the Persian Gulf to India 
and Taprobane, or Ceylon. Phoenician navigators, starting 
from Elath in the Red Sea, procured gold from Ophir, on 
the south-eastern coast of Arabia. Thasos and the neigh- 
boring islands furnished convenient stations from which the 
Euxine could be visited and commercial relations establish- 
ed with Thrace, Scythia, and Colchis. Some have supposed 
that the North Sea was crossed and the Baltic entered in 
quest of amber ; but the balance of evidence is, on the whole, 
against this extreme hypothesis. 

6. The sea-trade of the Phoenicians was probably supple- 
mented from a very remote date by a land traffic ; but this 
, , , „ portion of their commerce scarcely obtained its 

Land-trade of 7. ,, t , .n i • r. -».-r i it 

the early peri- luU development till the time 01 jNebuchadnezzar. 
A line of communication must indeed have been 
established early with the Persian Gulf settlements ; and in 
the time of Solomon there Avas no doubt a route open to 
Phoenician traders from Tyre or Joppa, through Jerusalem, 
to Elath. But the generally disturbed state of Western 
Asia during the Assyrian period would have rendered land 
traffic then so insecure, that, excepting where it was a neces- 
sity, it would have been avoided. 

Y. Towards the close of the period, whereof the history has 
been sketched above (see par. 3), the military expeditions 
Phceuicia sub- of the Assyrians began to reach Southern Syria, 
i^a,^aboiit^2^c' ^^^ Phoenician independence seems to have been 
^^^- lost. We can not be sure that the submission 

was continuous ; but from the middle of the ninth till past 
the middle of the eighth century there occur in the contem- 
porary monuments of Assyria plain indications of Phoenician 
subjection, while there is no evidence of resistance or revolt. 
Native sovereigns tributary to Assyria reign in the Phoeni- 
cian towns and are reckoned by the Assyrian monarchs 



56 ASIATIC NATIONS. [liooi; i. 

among their dependents. The country ceases to have a his- 
tory of its own ; and, with one exception, the very names of 
its rulers have perished. 

8. About B.C. 743 the passive submission of Phoenicia to 
the Assyrian yoke began to be exchanged for an impatience 

, of it, and frequent efforts Avere made, from this 

Revolts tiiiQ 

recovery of in- date till Nineveli fell, to re-establish Phoenician 
epen ence. independence. These efforts for the most part 
failed ; but it is not improbable that finally, amid the troubles 
under which the Assyrian empire succumbed, success crowned 
the nation's patriotic exertions, and autonomy was recovered. 

Revolts of Phcenicia from Assyria: — 1. Under a Hiram, from Tiglatli- 
pileser II., about* b.c, 743. 2. Under Elulaus, from Shalmaneser, b.c. 727. 
Long resistance of New Tyre. 3. Under the same, from Sennacherib, about 
B.C. 704. Expedition of Sennacherib, B.C. 700. Elulreus flies. Tubal made 
king. 4. Under Abdi-melkarth, from Esarhaddon, b.c. 680. Crushed im- 
mediately. 5. Under Baal of Tyre and the contemporaiy king of Aradus, 
from Sardanapalus, about b.c. 6G7. Likewise crushed without difficulty. 

9. Scarcely, however, had Assyria fallen, when a new en- 
Phoeniciaan emy appeared upon the scene. Nechoh of Egypt, 
pIZdeJfcy.B^o. about B.C. 608, conquered the whole tract between 
^^^- his own borders and the Euphrates. Phoenicia 
submitted or w^as reduced, and remained for three years an 
Egyptian dependency. 

10. Nebuchadnezzar, in B.C. 605, after his defeat of Nechoh 
at Carchemish, added Phoenicia to Babylon; and, though 

, , Tyre revolted from him eio-ht years later, b.c. 598, 

Couquered by •'^ . _„ _. * ni- / ^^ 

Nebuchadnez- and rcsistcd for thirteen years all his attempts to 
zar, B.O. C05. j.g^^^^g j^g^^ yg^ ^t length she was compelled to 

submit, and the Babylonian yoke was firmly fixed on the en- 
tire Phoenician people. It is not quite certain that they did 
not shake it off upon the death of the great Babylonian king ; 
but, on the whole, probability is in favor of their having re- 
mained subject till the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus, e.c. 
538. As usual, the internal government of the dependency 
was left to the conquered people, who were ruled at this time 
either by native kings, or, occasionally, by judges. 

Line of Kings and Judges at Tyre (from Menander) : — 1. Ithobaal 
11. , contemporary Avith Nebuchadnezzar, about b.c. 597 to 573. Tyre be- 
sieged by Nebuchadnezzar for thirteen years. 2. Baal. Reigned ten years, 
B.C. 573 to 563. 3. Ecnibaal, judge for three months. 4. Chelbes, judge 



PART I.] PHCENICIA. 57 

for ten months. 5. Abbarus (Abalus), the high-priest, judge for three 
months. G and 7. Mytgon and Gerastartus, judges for five years, u.c. 6G2 
to 557. 8. Balator, king. Reigned a year, b.c. 557 to 556. 9, Merbal, 
king. Reigned four years, b.c. 550 to 552. 10. Ilirom, king. Reigned 
twenty years, b.c. 552 to 532. In this king's fourteenth year, B.C. 538, 
Cyrus took Babylon, and Hirom became independent. 

11. As Greece rose to power, and as Carthage increased 
in importance, the sea-trade of Phcenicia was to a certain ex- 
Deciineofthe tent checked. The commerce of the Euxine and 
fea4mde,\ud the ^gcan passed almost wholly into the hands 
ortheXTd"^ of the alien Hellenes; that of the Western Medi- 
traffic. terranean and the Atlantic Ocean had to be shared 
with the daughter state. Meanwhile, however, in conse- 
quence of the more settled condition of Western Asia, first 
under the later Assyrian, and then under the Babylonian 
monarchs, the land trade received a considerable develop- 
ment, (a) A line of traffic was established with Armenia 
and Cappadocia, and Phoenician manufactures were ex- 
changed for the horses, mules, slaves, and brazen or copper 
utensils of those regions, {b) Another line passed by Tad- 
mor, or Palmyra, to Thapsacus, whence it branched on' the 
one hand through Upper Mesopotamia to Assyria, on the 
other down the Euphrates valley to Babylon and the Persian 
Gulf, (c) Whether a third line traversed the Arabian penin- 
sula from end to end for the sake of the Yemen spices may 
be doubted ; but, at any rate, communication must have been 
kept up by land with the friendly Jerusalem, and with the 
Red Sea, Avhich was certainly frequented by Phoenician 
fleets. 

12, The Phoenician commerce w^as chiefly a carrying trade ; 
but there were also a few productions of their own in which 

, their traffic was considerable. The most famous 

Character of i-ii i't 

Phoenician 01 thcsc was the purplc dyc, which they obtamed 
commerce. fj.QjQ ^^^ shell-fish, the buccinutu and the murex, 
and by the use of which they gave a high value to their tex- 
tile fabrics. Another was glass, whereof they claimed the 
discovery, and which they manufactured into various articles 
of use and ornament. They were also skillful in metallurgy; 
and their bronzes, their gold and silver vessels, and other 
works in metal, had a high repute. Altogether, they have a 
claim to be considered one of the most ingenious of the na- 

3* 



58 ASIATIC NATIONS. [book i. 

tions of antiquity, though Ave must not ascribe to them the 
invention of letters or the possession of any remarkable ar- 
tistic talent. 

VII. SYRIA. 

1. Syria, j^rior to its formation into a Persian satrapy, 
had at no time any political unity. During the Assyrian 
„ period it was divided into at least five principal 

Svri^ cliviQGd. 

iuto several States, somc of which were mere loose confedera- 
petty states, ^j^^^ rpj^^ g^.^ ^^^^^^ Were— 1. The northern Hit- 

tites. Chief city, Carchemish (probably identical with the 
later Mabog, now Bambuch). 2. The Patena, on the lower 
Orontes. Chief city, Kinalua. 3. The people of Hamath, in 
the Coele-Syrian valley, on' the upper Orontes. Chief city, 
Hamath (now Hamah). 4. The southern Hittites, in the tract 
south of Hamath. 5. The Syrians of Damascus, in the Anti- 
Libanus, and the fertile country between that range and the 
desert. Chief city, Damascus, on the Abana (Barada). 

2. Of these states the one which was, if not the most pow- 
erful, yet at any rate the most generally known, was Syria 
Kingdom of* of Damascus. The city itself was as old as the 
Damascus. ^^j^^ ^f Abraham. The state, which was power- 
ful enough, about b.c. 1000, to escape absorption into the 
empire of Solomon, continued to enjoy independence down 
to the time of Tiglath-pileser H., and was a formidable neigh- 
bor to the Jewish and Israelite monarchs. After the capture 
by Tiglath-pileser, about b.c. 732, a time of great weakness 
and depression ensued. One or two feeble attempts at re- 
volt were easily crushed ; after which, for a while, Damascus 
wholly disappears from history. 

Line of Damascene Kings : — 1, Hadad, contemporary with David, about 
B.C. 1040. Assists Hadadezar, king of Zobah, against David; is defeated, 
and makes his submission. 2. Kezon, contemporary with Solomon, about 
B.C. 1000. Revolts, and establishes independence. 3. Tab-rimmon, con- 
temporary with Abijah, about B.C. 960 to 950. 4. Ben-hadad I. (his son), 
contemporary with Baasha in Israel and Asa in Judah, about b.c. 950 to 
920. Wars with Baasha and Omri. 5. Ben-hadad II. (his son), contem- 
porary with Ahab, about b. c. 900. Wars with Ahab. Murdered by Hazael. 
G. Hazael, contemporary with Jehu in Israel and Shalmaneser II. in Assyria, 
about B.C. 850. 7. Ben-hadad III. (his son), contemporary with Jehoahaz, 
about B.C. 840. Oppresses Israel. Defeated three times by Joash. Kings 
unknown till 8. Rezin (about B.C. 745 to 732), who attacks Ahaz of Judah, 
and is defeated and slain by Tiglath-pileser. 



PART I.] JUD^A. • 59 

VlIL JUD^A. 

1. The history of the Jews and Israelites is known to us in 
completer sequence and in greater detail than that of any 
other people of equal antiquity, from the circumstance that 
there has been preserved to our day so large a portion of 
their literature. The Jews became familiar with writing 
during their sojourn in Egypt, if not even earlier ; and kept 
records of the chief events in their national life from that 
time almost uninterruptedly. Fron^the sacred character 
which attached to many of their historical books, peculiar 
care was taken of them ; and the result is that they have 
come down to us nearly in their original form. Besides this, 
a large body of their ancient poesy is still extant, and thus it 
becomes possible to describe at length not merely the events 
of their civil history, but their manners, customs, and modes 
of thought. 

Sources of thk History : — (a) Native. 1. The historical books of Josh- 
ua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles, with the historical parts of Jere- 
miah and Daniel. 2. The prophetical books, except Haggai, Zechariah, and 
Malachi, 3. Josephus, Antiquitates Judaicce; ed. Cotta and Gfrorer, 
Philadelphia, 1864. (6) Foreign. 1. The Fragments of Nicolas of Da- 
mascus, in the Fraginenta Hist. Grcec. vol. iii. ; ed. C. Muller, Paris. 2. 
Tacitus, Historice, lib. v. Curious, but of little value. 3. Occasional no- 
tices in the cuneiforai inscriptions of Assyria and the hieroglyphics of Egypt. 

Modern works on the subject are numerous and important. 
The following will be found of especial value: 

MiLMAN, H. H., History of the Jews from the Earliest Period down to 
Modern Tiines. London, 1863; 3d edition, revised and extended; 3 vols. 
8vo. 

EwALD, Geschichte des Volkes Israel. Guttingen, 1851-8. 2d edit. ; 3 
vols. 8vo. 

Stanley, A. P., Lectures on the History of the Jewish Church. First 
Series; London, 1863. Second Series ; London, 1865; 2 vols. 8 vo. 

Leavis, Origenes Hehrcece : the Antiquities of the Hebrew Republic. Lon- 
don, 1724 ; 4 vols. 8vo. 

Reland, Antiquitates Sacrce veterum Hebrczorum breviter delineates. Traj, 
Bat. 1708. 

EwALD, Die Alterthumer des Volkes Israel. Gottingen, 1851-9 ; 7 vols. 
8vo. 

And the numerous articles on the subject in Dr. W. Smith's Dictionary of 
the Bible. London, 1860-3 ; 3 vols. 8vo. 

2. The history of the Jewish state commences with the 



60 • ASIATIC NATIONS. [book 



Exodus, which is variously dated, at b.c. 1652 (Poole), b.c. 
1491 (Ussher), or b.c. 1320 (Bunsen, Lepsius). 
jlwSh^^sto- The long chronology is, on the whole, to be pre- 
^^' ferred. We may conveniently divide the history 

into three periods. 

PERIODS. B.C. 

I. From the Exodus to the estabhshment of the monarchy 1G50-1095 

II. From the establishment of the monarchy to the separation 

into two kingdoms 1095-975 

III. From the separation of^lie kingdoms to the captivity mider 

Nebuchadnezzar 975-58G 

3. During the First Period the Jews regarded themselves 
as under a theocracy ; or, in other words, the policy of the 
First Period, nation was directed in all difficult crises by a ref- 
-io95.^'Time ei'Gncc to the Divine will, which there was a rec- 
of the judges, ognized mode of consulting. The earthly ruler, 
or rather leader, of the nation did not aspire to the nagae or 
position of king, but was content to lead the nation in war 
and judge it in peace from a position but a little elevated 
above that of the mass of the people. He obtained his office 
neither by hereditary descent nor by election, but was super- 
naturally designated to it by revelation to himself or to an- 
other, and exercised it with the general consent, having no 
means of compelling obedience. When once his authority 
was acknowledged, he retained it during the remainder oi 
his life ; but it did not always extend over the whole nation. 
When he died, he was not always succeeded immediately 
by another similar ruler : on the contrary, there was often a 
considerable interval during which the nation had either no 
head, or acknowledged subjection to a foreign conqueror. 
When there was no head, the hereditary chiefs of tribes and 
families seem to have exercised jurisdiction and authority 
over the different districts. 

4. The chronology of this period is exceedingly uncertain, 
as is evident from the different dates assigned above (par. 2) 

, . , , to the Exodus. The Jews had different traditions 

Uncertainty of i i i t • i 

the chronoio- upon the subject ; and the chronological notices 
^^' in their sacred books were neither complete, nor, 

apparently, intended for exact statements. The numbers, 
therefore, in the subjoined sketcli must be regarded as mere- 
ly approximate. 



PART I.] JUDiEA. Gl 

Judges, etc., from the Exodus to the establishment of the monarchy: — 
1. Moses, the great lawgiver of the nation. Delivers the people from their 
Egyptian bondage, and conducts them to the borders of Palestine, b.c. 1G50 
to 1610. 2. Joshua. Conquers Palestine and divides it among the tribes, 
B.C. 1604. Dies, about b.c. 1595. Interregnum, about thirty years. Serv- 
itude under Cushan-rishathaim, eight years, about b.c. 1565 to 1557. 3. 
Othniel. Delivers Israel. Reigns forty years, b.c. 1557 to 1517. Inter- 
regnum, about five years. Servitude under Eglon, king of Moab, eighteen 
years, B.C. 1512 to 1494. 4. Ehud. Kills Eglon, and delivers Israel. Land 
has rest eighty years, B.C. 1494 to 141 4» 5. Shamgar. (His reign probably 
included in the eighty years.) Servitude under Jabin, king of Canaan, 
twenty years, B.C. 1414 to 1394. 6. Deborah. Delivers Israel from Jabin. 
Land has rest forty years, B.C. 1394 to 1354. Servitude under Midian, seven 
years, B.C. 1354 to 1347. 7. Gideon. Delivers Israel from the Midianites. 
Reigns forty years, B.C. 1347 to 1307.* 8. Abimelech, king. Reigns three 
years, B.C. 1307 to 1304. Interregnum, about five years. 9. Tola. Reigns 
twenty-three years, about b.c. 1299 to 1276. 10. Jair. Reigns twenty-two 
years, about B.C. 1276 to 1254. Interregnum, about five years. Sen-itude 
under Ammon, eighteen years, B.C. 1249 to 1231, 11. Jephthah. Delivers 
Israel from the Ammonites. Reigns six years, B.C. 1231 to 1225. 12. Ib- 
zan. Reigns seven years, B.C. 1225 to 1218. 13. Elon. Reigns ten years, 
B.C. 1218 to 1208. 14. Abdon. Reigns eight years, b.c. 1208 to 1200. 
Interregnum, about five years. Servitude under the Philistines, forty years, 
B.C. 1195 to 1155. 15, Samson. Reigns in South-west Palestine during 
twenty years of these forty, b.c. 1175 to 1155. 16. Eli, High-priest and 
Judge. Reigns forty years, B.C. 1155 to 1115. 17. Samuel, the last Judge. 
Reigns probably about twenty yeai's b.c. 1115 to 1095. 

5. The Second Period of the Jewish state comprises three 
reigns only — those of Saul, David, and Solomon. Each of 
Second Peri- tlicse was regarded as having lasted exactly forty 
1095-975.^"°' years; and thus the entire duration of the single 
SThefsrTei-^ monarchy was reckoned at 120 years. The prog- 
ite power. ress of the nation during this brief space is most 
remarkable. When Saul ascends the throne the condition of 
the people is but little advanced beyond the point which was 
reached when the tribes under Joshua took possession of the 
Promised Land. Pastoral and agricultural occupations still 
engross the attention of the Israelites ; simple habits prevail ; 
there is no wealthy class ; the monarch, like the Judges, has 
no court, no palace, no extraordinary retinue ; he is still little 
more than leader in war, and chief judge in time of peace. 
Again, externally, the nation is as weak as ever. The Am- 
monites on the one side, and the Philistines on the other, 
ravage its territory at their pleasure ; and the latter people 
have encroached largely upon the Israelite borders, and re- 



62 ASIATIC NATIONS. [book i. 

duced the Israelites to such a pomt of depression that they 
liave no arms, offensive or defensive, nor even any workers 
in iron. Under Solomon, on the contrary, within a century 
of this time of weakness, the Israelites have become the par- 
amount race in Syria. An empire has been formed which 
reaches from the Euphrates at Thaj^sacus to the Red Sea 
and the borders of Egypt. Numerous monarchs are tribu- 
tary to the Great King who reigns at Jerusalem; vast sums 
in gold .and silver flow into the treasury; magnificent edi- 
fices are constructed ; trade is established both with the 
East and with the West; the court of Jerusalem vies in 
sj^lendor with those of Ninj^veh and Memphis ; luxury has 
invaded the country; a seraglio on the largest scale has 
been formed; and the power and greatness of the prince 
has become oppressive to the bulk of the people. Such a 
rapid growth was necessarily exhaustive of the nation's 
strength ; and the decline of the Israelites as a people dates 
from the division of the kingdom. 

6. Saul, divinely pointed out to Samuel, is anointed by 
him, and afterwards accepted by the people upon the cast- 
KeignofSaui, i"g of lots. He is remarkable for his comeliness 
U.C. 1095-1055. ^^^ lofty stature. In his first year he defeats the 
Ammonites, who had overrun the land of Gilead. He then 
makes war on the Philistines, and gains the great victory of 
Michmash ; from which time till near the close of his reign 
the Philistines remain upon the defensive. He also attacks 
the Amalekites, the Moabites, the Edomites, and the Syrians 
of Zobah. In the Amalekite war he oflfends God by disobe- 
dience, and thereby forfeits his right to the kingdom. Sam- 
uel, by divine command, anoints David, who is thenceforth 
an object of jealousy and hatred to the reigning monarch, 
but is protected by Jonathan, his son. Towards the close 
of Saul's reign the Philistines once more assume the offen- 
sive, under Achish,king of Gath,and at Mount Gilboa defeat 
the Israelites under Saul. Saul, and all his sons but one 
(Ishbosheth),fall in the battle. 

7. A temporary division of the kingdom follows the death 
of Saul. Ishbosheth, conveyed across the Jordan by Ab- 
Temporary ner, is acknowledged as ruler in Gilead, and after 
fhek\u"dom, ^^c years, during which his authority is extend- 
B.0. 1055-1048. Q^ over all the tribes except Judah, is formally 



PART I.] JUDiEA. 63 

crowned as King of Israel at Malianaim. He reigns there 
two years, when he is murdered. Meanwhile David is made 
king by his own tribe, Judah, and reigns at Hebron. 

8. On the deatli of Ishbosheth, David became king of the 
whole nation. His first act was the capture of Jerusalem, 

. which up to this time had remained in the pos- 

David, B.O. session 01 the Jebusites. Having taken it, he 
made it the seat of government, built himself a 
palace there, and, by removing to it the Ark of the Cove- 
nant, constituted it the national sanctuary. At the same 
time a court was formed at the new capital, a moderate se- 
raglio set up, and a royal state affected unknown hitherto in 
Israel. 

9. A vast aggrandizement of the state by means of for- 
eign conquests followed. The Philistines w^re chastised, 
His conquests ^^^^^ taken, and the Israelite dominions in this 

quarter pushed as far as Gaza. Moab was in- 
vaded, two-thirds of the inhabitants exterminated, and the 
remainder forced to pay an annual tribute to the conqueror. 
War followed with Ammon, and with the various Syrian 
states interposed between the Holy Land and the Euphra- 
tes. At least three great battles were fought, with the re- 
sult that the entire tract between the Jordan and the Eu- 
phrates was added to the Israelite territory. A campaign 
reduced Edom, and extended the kingdom to the Red Sea. 
An empire w^as thus formed, which proved indeed short- 
lived, but "was as real while it lasted as those of Assyria or 
Babylon. 

10. The glories of David's reign were tarnished by two 
rebellions. The fatal taint of polygamy, introduced by Da- 
Rebeiiions of ^''^^ "^^^ ^^^ nation, gave occasion to these calam- 
Absaiomand ities, which arosc from the mutual lealousies of 

Adomjah. ' at i t i i t •• i 

his sons. In'st Absalom, and then Adonijah, as- 
sume the royal title in their father's lifetime; and pay for 
treason, the one immediately, the other ultimately, with their 
lives. After the second rebellion, David secures the succes- 
sion to Solomon by associating him ujDon the throne. 

11. The reign of Solomon is the culminating point of Jew- 
ish history. Resistance on the part of the conquered states 
has, with scarcely an exception, now ceased, and the new king 
can afford to be " a man of peace." The position of his king- 



64 ASIATIC NATIONS. [book i. 

clom among the nations of the earth is acknowl- 
omou",B.o.^" edged by the neighboring powers, and the reign- 
1015-975. ^^^g Pharaoh does not scruple to give him his 

daughter in marriage. A great commercial movement fol- 
lows. By alliance with Hiram of Tyre, Solomon is admit- 
ted to a share in the profits of Phoenician traffic, and the 
vast influx of the precious metals into Palestine which re- 
sults from this arrangement enables the Jewish monarch to 
indulge freely his taste for ostentation and display. The 
court is reconstructed on an increased scale. A new palace 
of enlarged dimensions and far greater architectural magnifi- 
cence supersedes the palace of David. The seraglio is aug- 
mented, and reaches a point which has no known parallel. 
A throne of extraordinary grandeur proclaims in language 
intelligible to all the wealth and greatness of the emj^ire. 
Above all, a sanctuary for the national worship is construct- 
ed on the rock of Moriah, on which all the mechanical and 
artistic resources of the time are lavished ; and the Ark of 
the Covenant, whose wanderings have hitherto marked the 
unsettled and insecure condition of the nation, obtains at 
length a fixed and permanent resting-place. 

12. But close upon the heels of success and glory follows 
decline. The trade of Solomon*— a State monopoly — enriched 
Decline of the himself but not his subjects. The taxes which he 
state. imposed on the provinces for the sustentation of 

his enormous court exhausted and impoverished them. His 
employment of vast masses of the people in forced labors of 
an unproductive character was a wrongful and uneconomical 
interference with industry, which crippled agriculture and 
aroused a strong feeling of discontent. Local jealousies were 
provoked by the excessive exaltation of the tribe of Judah. 
The enervating influence of luxury began to be felt. Final- 
ly, a subtle corruption was allowed to spread itself through 
all ranks by the encouragement given to false religions, re- 
ligions whose licentious and cruel rites were subversive of 
the first principles of morality, and even of decency. The 
seeds of the disintegration which showed itself immediately 
upon the death of Solomon were sown during his lifetime ; 
and it is only surprising that they did not come to light 
earlier and interfere more seriously with the prosperity of 
his long reign. 



TART I.] JUDtEA. . (55 

Signs of disintegration in the empire during Solomon's reign : — 1. Revolt 
of Damascus under Kezon, and re-establishment of the Damascene monarchy. 
2. Revolt of Iladad in Edom. 3. Attempted revolt of Jeroboam. 

1 3. On the death of Solomon, the disintegrating forces, al- 
ready threatening the unity of the empire, received, through 
Third Period, ^he folly of his successor, a sudden accession of 
B.a 975-5SC. strength, which precipitated the catastrophe. Re- 
hoboam, entreated to lighten the burdens of the Israelites, 
declared his intention of increasing their weight, and thus 
drove the bulk of his native subjects into rebellion. The 
disunion of the conquering people gave the conquered tribes 
an opportunity of throwing off the yoke, whereof with few 
exceptions they availed themselves. In lieu of the puissant 
State, which under David and Solomon took rank among the 
foremost powers of the earth, we have henceforth to deal 
with two petty kingdoms of small account, the interest of 
whose history is religious rather than political. 

14. The kingdom of Israel, established by the revolt of 
Jeroboam, comprises ten out of the twelve tribes, and reaches 
_. - - from the borders of Damascus and Hamath to 

Kingdom of . . • /. 

Israel, B.C. withui ten milcs of Jerusalem. It includes the 

975-721. 

whole of the trans-Jordanic territory, and exer- 
cises lordship) over the adjoining country of Moab. The pro- 
portion of its population to that of Judah in the early times 
may be estimated as two to one. But the advantage of su- 
perior size, fertility, and j^opulation is counterbalanced by 
the inferiority of every Israelite capital to Jerusalem, and by 
the fundamental weakness of a government which, deserting 
purity of religion, adopts for expediency's sake an unauthor- 
ized and semi-idolatrous worship. In vain a succession of 
Prophets, some of them endowed with extraordinary mirac- 
ulous power, struggled against this fatal taint. Idolatry, 
intertwined with the nation's life, could not be rooted out. 
One form of the evil led on to other and worse forms. The 
national strength was sapped ; and it scarcely required an 
attack from without to bring the State to dissolution. The 
actual fall, however, is produced b.c. 721, by the growing 
power of Assyria, which has even at an earlier date forced 
some of the monarchs to pay tribute. 

Note, as remarkable features of the kingdom of Israel : — 1. The frequency 
of the dynastic changes, and the short average of the reigns. Nineteen mon- 



66 ASIATIC NATIONS. [book i. 

archs are found in the brief space of 250 (or, according to the numbers as- 
signed to the reigns, 230) years, giving an average of twelve or thirteen years 
to a reign. The kings belong to nine different families. Eight of them meet 
with violent deaths. Only two dynasties, those of Omri and Jehu, retain the 
throne for any considerable period^ 2, The changes of the capital, Avhich is 
first Shechem, then Tirzah, then Samaria. 3. The constant and exhausting 
wars (a) with Judah, (b) with Damascus, (c) with Assyria ; and the want 
of an ally on whom dependence can be placed, Egypt being too remote, and 
Phoenicia too weak, to be serviceable. 

Line of Kings: — 1. Jeroboam, divinely appointed to his office. Leader 
of the rebellion. Establishes the national sanctuaries with idolatrous em- 
blems at Dan and Bethel, and at the same time creates a new priesthood in 
opposition to the Levitical. Great efflux of the Levites and other adherents 
of the old religion. War with Judah. Jeroboam helped by Shishak. Eeigns 
twenty-two yeai's (incomplete), b.c. 975 to 954. 2. Nadab, his son, reigns 
two years (incomplete), b.c. 954 to 953. Murdered by Baasha. 3. Baasha, 
reigns twenty-four years (incomplete), B.C. 953 to 930. Makes Tirzah the 
capital. Wars with Asa of Judah and Ben-hadad of Damascus. Exodus of 
.pious Israelites continues. 4. Elah, his son, reigns two years (incomplete), 
B.C. 930 to 929. Murdered by one of his officers. 5. Zimri, against whom 
the army sets up Omii, the captain of the host. Zimri, in despair, burns him- 
self in his palace. 6. Omri has a rival for some time in Tibni, but outlives 
him. Reigns twelve years (incomjDlete), b.c. 929 to 918. Transfers the 
capital to Samaria. Wars with Damascus and makes a disgraceful peace. 
7. Ahab, his son, succeeds. Reigns twenty-two years (incomplete), b.c. 918 
to 897. Strengthens himself by contracting affinity with Eth-baal of Tyre 
and Jehoshaphat of Jerusalem. The Tyi'ian alliance leads to the introduc- 
tion of Phoenician idolatry. Evil influence of the Phoenician princess Jezebel 
over her husband and sons. Advance of corruption and futile efforts of 
Elijah. Wars of Ahab with Syria and Assyria. He falls fighting against 
the Syrians at Ramoth-gilead. 8. Ahaziah, his son, reigns little more than 
a year, B.C. 897 to 896. Revolt of Moab. 9. Jehoram, brother of Ahaziah, 
succeeds and reigns twelve years, b.c. 896 to 884. The league Avith Judah 
continues. Wars with Moab, and with Hazael of Damascus. Jehoram, 
and the queen-mother Jezebel, are murdered by Jehu. 10. Jehu is ac- 
knowledged king. He destroys the whole house of Ahab, and puts down the 
Avorship of Baal, but maintains the idolatry of Jeroboam. Hazael deprives 
him of all his territory east of the Jordan. On one occasion at least he pays 
tribute to Assyria. Jehu reigns twenty-eight yeai'S, b.c, 884 to 856. He is 
succeeded by his son, 11. Jehoahaz, who reigns seventeen years, B.C. 856 
to 839, He loses cities to Damascus, and submits to have the number of his 
standing army limited, 12. Jehoash, or Joash, his son, reigns sixteen years, 
1}. c. 839 to 823. A revival of the Israelite power commences. Joash defeats 
Ben-hadad, son of Hazael, three times, and recovers part of his lost territory. 
He also defeats Amaziah, king of Judah, and takes Jerusalem, but allows 
Amaziah to continue king. He is succeeded by his son, 13. Jeroboam II., 
mider whom the kingdom reaches the acme of its prosperity. In his long 
reign, estimated at forty-one, or by some at fifty-one, years, b.c. 823 to 772, 
he not only recoyered all the old Israelite territory, but even conquered Ha- 



PAKT I.] JUDJEA. G7 

math and Damascus. lie was succeeded, either immediately or after an 
interregnum, by his son, Zechariah, the fifth and last king of the house of 
Jehu. 14. Zechaiiah, who reigned six months only, B.C. 772, was murdered 
by 15. Shallum, who was in his turn assassinated, within little more than 
a month, by 16. Menahem of Tirzah. This enterprising prince, bent on 
carrying out the policy of Jeroboam II., made an expedition to the Eu- 
phrates and took Thapsacus ; but having thereby provoked the hostility of an 
Assyrian (or Chaldiean) monarch, Pul, was attacked in his turn, and forced 
to become tributary. Menahem reigned ten years, b.c. 772 to 7G2. He 
left the crown to his son, 17. Pekahiah, who was murdered by one of his 
officers, Pekah, after a reign of two years, b.c. 7G2 to 7G0. 18. Pekah then 
succeeded, and reigned either twenty or thirty years, b.c. 760 to 730. He 
was twice attacked by Tiglath-pileser II. , king of Assyria, who on the second 
occasion completely desolated the trans- Jordanic territory. His league Avith 
Rezin of Damascus was ineffectual against this enemy, though it reduced 
Judah to the verge of destruction. After the second invasion of Tiglath- 
pileser, Pekah was murdered by Hoshea, who succeeded him, either directly 
or after an interregnum. 19. Hoshea, the last king, reigned nine years, from 
B.C. 730 to 721. He at first accepted the position of tributary under Assyria, 
but, having obtained the alliance of Egypt, he shortly afterward* revolted. 
Shalmaneser, the Assyrian king, came up against him and commenced the 
siege of Samaria, which resisted for two years. It fell, however, shortly after 
Sargon's accession ; and with its fall the kingdom of Israel came to an end. 

15. The separate kingdom of Judah, commencing at the 
same date with that of Israel, outlasted it by considerably 
Kin<^(iom of "^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^ century. Composed of two entire 
J^i^ah, B.C. tribes only, with refugees from the remainder, and 
confined to the lower and less fertile portion of 
the Holy Land, it compensated for these disadvantages by 
its compactness, its unity, the strong position of its capital, 
and the indomitable spirit of its inhabitants, who felt them- 
selves the real " people of God," the true inheritors of the 
marvellous past, and the only rightful claimants of the great- 
er marvels promised in the future. Surrounded as it was by 
petty enemies, Philistines, Arabians, Ammonites, Israelites, 
Syrians, and placed in the pathway between two mighty 
powers, Assyria and Egypt, its existence was continually 
threatened ; but the valor of its people and the protection 
of Divine Providence preserved it intact during a space of 
nearly four centuries. In striking contrast with the sister 
kingdom of the N'orth, it preserved during this long space, 
almost without a break, the hereditary succession of its kings, 
who followed one another in the direct line of descent, as 
long as there was no foreign intervention. Its elasticity in 



G8 ASIATIC NATIONS. [book i. 

recovering from defeat is most remarkable. Though forced 
repeatedly to make ignominious terms of peace, though con- 
demned to see on three occasions its capital in the occupa- 
tion of an enemy, it rises from disaster with its strength seem- 
ingly unimpaired, defies Assyria in one reign, confronts Egypt 
in another, and is only crushed at last by the employment 
against it of the full force of the Babylonian empire. 

Line of Kings : — The throne is held by nineteen princes of the house of 
David and one usurping princess of the house of Omri, whose position as queen- 
mother enables her to seize the supreme power. The average length of the 
reigns is nineteen and a half years. 1. Rehoboam, son of Solomon, reigns 
eighteen years (incomplete), B.C. 975 to 958. Forbidden by the prophet 
Shemaiah to attack Jeroboam, he fortifies his towns. Invasion of Shishak ; 
Jerusalem occupied and plundered. Jeroboam strengthened. Constant hos- 
tilities between Israel and Judah. Partial lapse of the people into idolatry. 
2. Abijam, his son, reigns three years (incomplete), B.C. 958 to 956. He 
attacks Jeroboam and gains a great victory. Captures Bethel and other 
towns. Makes a league with Ben-hadad. 3. Asa, his son. Attacked by 
Zerah the Ethiopian (Osorkon, king of Egypt?), he completely defeats him. 
Attacked by Baasha, he detaches Ben-hadad from his alliance, and gains ad- 
vantages. Makes efforts to put down idolatry. Reigns forty-one years (in- 
complete), B.C. 956 to 916. 4. Jehoshaphat, his son. Marries his son, Jeho- 
ram, to Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab, and makes alliance with the king- 
dom of Israel. Assists Ahab in his Syiian wars. Attempts to reopen the 
Ophir trade in conjunction with Ahaziah, but fails. Wars with Moab, Am- 
mon, and Edom. Reigns twenty-five years (incomplete), B.C. 916 to 892. 
Succeeded by 5. Jehoram, his son, who reigns eight years (incomplete), B.C. 
892 to 885. Successful revolt of Edom. The Philistines and Arabs attack 
and take Jerusalem. Jehoram gives encouragement to idolatry. 6. Ahaziah, 
his son, reigns one year only, being murdered by Jehu, king of Israel, B.C. 
884. He is succeeded by 7. Athaliah, his mother, tlie daughter of Ahab 
and Jezebel, who murders all the seed royal except the infant Joash, and 
makes herself queen. She reigns six years, b.c. 884 to 878, and substitutes 
the worship of Baal for that of Jehovah. Jehoiada, the high-priest, heads a 
rebellion, proclaims Joash, and puts Athaliah to death. 8. Joash, son of 
Ahaziah, succeeds. Reigns well as long as Jehoiada lives, then b'ecomes 
idolatrous. Attacked by Hazael and forced to purchase a peace. Murdered 
by two of his subjects, after he had reigned forty years, b.c. 878 to 838. 9. 
Amaziah, his son, defeats the Edomites and takes Petra. Attacks Joash, 
who defeats him and captures Jerusalem. Reigns twenty-nine years, b.c. 
838 to 809. Murdered atLachish. 10. Azariah orUzziah, his son, a great 
and warlike prince. Re-establishes the port of Elath. Conquers most of 
Philistia. Defeats the Arabs. Receives tribute from Am mon. His attempt 
to invade the priest's ofiice punished by leprosy. Reigns fifty-two years, b.c. 
809 to 757. 11. Jotham, his son, who had been regent during his father's 
illness, succeeds. Reigns sixteen years (incomplete), B.C. 757 to 742. For- 
tifies Jerusalem. Forces the Ammonites to pay tribute. Attacked by Rezin 



PART II.] AFRICAN NATIONS. . G9 

and Pekah in his last year. 12. Ahaz, his son, reigns sixteen years, B.C. 742 
to 726. Attacked by Rezin and Pekali, who defeat him and besiege Jerusa- 
lem, Ahaz calls in the aid of Tiglath-pileser II. of Assyria, and becomes his 
tributary. Pekah is chastised, Rezin slain, and Judaea relieved. Ahaz in- 
troduces various foreign idolatries. 13. Hezekiah, his son. Throws off the 
Assyrian yoke, defeats the Philistines, and re-establishes the pure worship of 
Jehovah. Attacked by Sennacherib, he submits and becomes tributary ; but 
soon afterwards he revolts and makes alliance with Egypt. Second invasion 
of Sennacherib, directed especially against Egj-pt, results in the complete de- 
struction of his army, and in the relinquishment of his designs. Hezekiah re- 
ceives an embassy from Babylon. Isaiah prophesies during his reign, which 
lasts twenty-nine years, from b.c. 726 to 697. Hezekiah is succeeded by his 
son, 14. Manasseh, who reigns fifty- five years, from B.C. 697 to 642. In 
this reign idolatry is firmly established, the temple shut up, and the law of 
Moses allowed to foil into complete disuse. The worshippers of Jehovah are 
also violently persecuted. Manasseh, suspected of an intention to rebel by 
the Assyrians, is carried captive to Babylon, but afterwards restored to his 
kingdom, where he effects a religious reformation. 1 5. His son, Amon, suc- 
ceeds, but reigns only two years, during which he re-establishes the various 
idolatries which his father had first introduced and then abolished. He is 
murdered by conspirators, b.c. 640. 16. Josiah, his son, a boy of eight, 
mounts the throne, and reigns thirty-one years, B.C. 640 to 609. Abolition 
of idjolatry, and restoration of the temple worship. Discovery of the Book of 
the Law. Scythian inroad. Palestine invaded by Nechoh, king of Egypt. 
Battle of Megiddo, and death of Josiah. 17. Jehoahaz, his second son, is 
made king by the people, but within three months is removed by Nechoh, who 
confers the crown on his elder brother, 18. Jehoiakim, which he holds for 
four years as an Egyptian tributary, b.c. 609 to 605. Great expedition of 
Nebuchadnezzar ; defeat of Nechoh at Carchemish, and extension of the 
Babylonian doniinion to the borders of Egypt. Jehoiakim submits, but af- 
terwards rebels and is put to death, b.c. 605 to 598. 19. Jehoiachin, son of 
Jehoiakim, is made king by Nebuchadnezzar, but holds the throne for three 
months only, when he is carried captive to Babylon, with a great number of 
his subjects, b.c. 597. 20. Zedekiah, third son of Josiah, uncle of Jehoia- 
chin, then rules as a Babylonian tributary ; but he too rebels, allies himself 
with Apries, king of Egypt, and defies the Chaldiean power. Nebuchadnez- 
zar lays siege to Jerusalem, b.c. 588, and takes it b.c. 586. Zedekiah and 
the rest of the nation are carried captive to Babylon. Jeremiah prophesies 
during the reigns of Josiah and his three sons. 



PART II.— AFRICAN NATIONS. 
Preliminary Remarks on the Geography of Ancient Africa. 

1, The continent of Africa offers a remarkable contrast to 
that of Asia in every important physical characteristic. Asia 
extends itself through all three zones, the torrid, the frigid. 



70 AFKICAN NATIONS. [book t. 

and the temperate, and lies mainly in the last, 
tween Africa or most favored of them. Africa belongs al- 
aud Asia. most entirely to the torrid zone, extending only a 
little way north and south into those portions of the two 
temperate zones which lie nearest to the tropics. Asia has 
a coast deeply indented with numerous bays and gulfs ; Af 
ricahas but one considerable indentation — the Gulf of Guin- 
ea on its western side. Asia, again, is traversed by frequent 
and lofty mountain chains, the sources from which flow nu- 
merous rivers of first-rate magnitude. Africa has but two 
great rivers, the Nile and the Niger, and is deficient in 
mountains of liigh elevation. Finally, Asia possesses nu- 
merous littoral islands of a large size; Africa has but one 
such island, Madagascar; and even the islets which lie off 
its coast are, comparatively speaking, few. 

2, Its equatorial position, its low elevation, and its want 
of important rivers, render Africa the hottest, the dryest, and 
Aridity and the most infertile of the four continents. In the 
fimy of AM- "oi'th a sea of sand, known as the Sahara, stretch- 
*^^- es from east to west across the entire continent 
from the Atlantic to the Red Sea, and occupies fully one- 
fifth of its surface. Smaller tracts of an almost equally' 
arid character occur towards the south. Much of the in- 
terior consists of SAvampy jungle, impervious, and fatal to 
human life. The physical characteristics of the continent 
render it generally unapt for civilization or for the growth 
of great states : it is only in a few regions that Nature 
wears a more benignant aspect, and offers conditions favor- 
able to human progress. These regions are chiefly in the 
north and the north-east, in the near vicinity of the Medi- 
terranean and the Red Sea. 

3. It was only the more northern part of Africa that was 
known to the ancients, or that had any direct bearing on 
General de- ^^® history of the ancicut world. Here the geo- 
scription of graphical features were very marked and strik- 

North Africa. . . "^ 

ing. First, there lay close along the sea-shore 
a narrow strip of generally fertile territory, watered by 
streams which emptied themselves into the Mediterranean. 
South of this was a tract of rocky mountain, less fitted for 
human liabitation, though in places producing abundance of 
dates. Thirdly, came the Great Desert, interspersed with 



TART II.] AFRICA AN NATIONS. 71 

oases — islands in the sea of sand containing springs of wa- 
ter and a flourisliing vegetation. Below the Sahara, and 
completely sej^arated by it from any political contact with 
the countries of the north, but crossed occasionally by cara- 
vans for purposes of commerce, was a second fertile region — 
a land of large rivers and lakes, where there were cities and 
a numerous poj^ulation. 

4. The western portion of North Africa stood, in some re- 
spects, in marked contrast with the eastern. Towards the 
Divisions: 1. east the fertile coast-tract is in general exceed- 
Uo?.%"west- i"gly narrow, and sparingly watered by a small 
ern portiou. number of insignificant streams. The range of 
bare rocky hills from which they flow — the continuation 
of Atlas — is of low elevation ; and the Great Desert often 
approaches within a very short distance of the coast. To-, 
wards the west the lofty range of Atlas, running at a con- 
siderable distance (200 miles) from the shore, allows a broad 
tract of fertile ground to intervene between its crest and 
the sea. The range itself is w^ell wooded, and gives birth 
to many rivers of a fair size. Here states of importance 
may grow up, for the resources of the tract are great ; the 
soil is good ; the climate not insalubrious ; but towards 
the east Nature has been a niggard; and, from long. 10° E. 
nearly to long. 30°, there is not a single position where even 
a second-rate state could long maintain itself 

5. The description of North Africa, which has been here 
given, holds good as far as long. 30°; but east of this line 
_ . ,. there commences another and very diflerent re- 

Uescnption . . •' 

of the Nile jrion. From the hiojhlands of Abyssinia and the 

valley . 

great reservoirs on the line of the equator, the 
Nile rolls down its vast body of waters with a course whose 
general direction is from south to north, and, meeting the 
Desert, flows across it in a mighty stream, which renders 
this corner of the continent the richest and most valuable of 
all the tracts contained in it. The Nile valley is 3000 miles 
long, and, in its upper portion, of unknown width. When it 
enters the Desert, about lat. 16°, its width contracts; and 
from the sixth cataract down to Cairo, the average breadth 
of the cultivable soil does not exceed fifteen miles. Tliis 
soil, however, is of the best possible quality ; and the pos- 
session of the strip on either side of the river, and of the 



72 AFRICAN NATIONS. [book i. 

broader tract known as the Delta, about its mouth, natu- 
rally constitutes the power which holds it a great and im- 
portant state. The proximity of this part of Africa to 
Western Asia and to Europe, its healthiness and compara- 
tively temperate climate, likewise favored the development 
in this region of an early civilization and the formation of 
a monarchy which played an important part in the history 
of the ancient world. 

6. Above the point at which the Nile enters the Desert, 
on the right or east bank of the stream, occurs another tract, 
Eegiou be- physically very remarkable, and capable of be- 
Slfe ancUhe coming politically of high consideration. Here 
KedSea, there is interposed between the main stream of 
the Nile and the Red Sea an elevated table-land, 8000 feet 
above the ocean-level, surrounded and intersected by mount- 
ains, which rise in places to the height of 15,000 feet. 
These lofty masses attract and condense the vapors that 
float in from the neighboring sea ; and the country is thus 
subject to violent rains, which during the summer months 
fill the river-courses, and, flowing down them to the Nile, 
are the cause of that stream's periodical overflow, and so 
of the rich fertility of Egypt. The abundance of moist- 
ure renders the plateau generally productive; and the re- 
gion, which may be regarded as containing from 200,000 to 
250,000 square miles, is thus one well capable of nourishing 
and sustaining a power of the first magnitude. 

The nations inhabiting Northern Africa in the times an- 
terior to Cyrus were, according to the belief of 

1*01111 caldivis- ^ ? cd 

ion of North- the Greeks, fivc. These were the Egyptians, the 
erii rica, Ethiopians, the Greeks, the Phcenicians, and the 
Libyans, 

i. Egypt. To the Egyptians belonged the Nile valley 
from lat. 24° to the coast, together with the barren region 
between that valley and the Red Sea, and the fertile tract 
of the Faioom about Mceris, on the opposite side of the 
stream. Its most important portion was the Delta, which 
contained about 8000 square miles, and was studded with 
cities of note. The chief towns were, however, in the nar- 
row valley. These were Memphis, not much above the apex 
of the Delta, and Thebes, about lat. 26°. Besides these, the 
places of importance were, in Upper Egypt, Elephantine and 



PART II.] AFRICAN NATIONS. 73 

Cheramis, or Panopolis ; in the lower country, Heliopolis, 
Sais, Sebennytus, Mendes, Tanis, Bubastis, and Pelusium, 
The Nile was the only Egyptian river; but at the distance 
of about ninety miles from the sea, the great stream divided 
itself into three distinct channels, known as the Canobic, the 
Sebennytic, and the Pelusiac branches ; while, lower down, 
these channels further subdivided themselves, so that in 
the time of Herodotus the Nile waters reached the Medi- 
terranean by seven distinct mouths. Egypt had one large 
and several smaller lakes. The large lake, known by the 
name of Moeris, lay on the west side of the Nile, in lat. 29° 
50'. It was believed to be artificial, but was really a natu- 
ral depression. 

ii. Ethiopia. The Ethiopians held the valley of the Nile 
above Egypt, and the whole of the plateau from which de- 
scend the great Nile affluents, the modern country of Abys- 
sinia. Their chief city was Meroe. Little was known of 
the tract by the ancients ; but it Avas believed to be excess- 
ively rich in gold. A tribe called Troglodyte Ethiopians — 
i. e., Ethiopians who burrowed underground — is mentioned 
as inhabiting the Sahara where it adjoins upon Fezzan. 

iii. Greek Settlements. The Greeks had colonized the por- 
tion of North Africa which approached most nearly to the 
Peloponnese, having settled at Cyrene about b.c. 630, and at 
Barca about seventy years afterwards. They had also a 
colony at Naucratis in Egypt, and perhaps a settlement at 
the greater Oasis. 

iv. Libyans. The Libyans possessed the greater part of 
Northern Africa, extending, as they did, from the borders 
of Egypt to the Atlantic Ocean, and from the Mediterranean 
to the Great Desert. They were divided into a number of 
tribes, among which the following were the most remarka- 
ble : the AdyrmachidcTB, who bordered on Egypt, the Nasa- 
monians on the greater Syrtis, the Garamantes in the mod- 
ern Fezzan, and the Atlantes in the range of Atlas. Most 
of these races were nomadic ; but some of the more west- 
ern cultivated the soil, and, consequently, had fixed abodes. 
Politically, all these tribes were excessively weak. 

V. Carthage. The Carthaginians, or Liby-Phoenicians — 
immigrants into Africa, like the Greeks — had fixed them- 
selves in the fertile region north of the Atlas chain, at the 

4 



'74 AFRICAN NATIONS. [book i. 

point where it approaches nearest to Sicily. Here in a clus- 
ter lay the important towns of Carthage, Utica, Hippo Zari- 
tiis, Tunis, and Zama Regia, while a little removed were 
Adrumetum, Leptis, and Hippo Regius. The entire tract 
was fertile and well w^atered, intersected by numerous ranges, 
spurs from the main chain of Atlas. Its principal river was 
the Bagrada (now Majerdah), which emptied itself into the 
sea a little to the north-west of Carthage. The entire coast 
was indented by numerous bays ; and excellent land-locked 
harbors were formed by salt lakes connected with the sea 
by narrow channels. Such was the Hipponites Palus (L. 
Benzart) near Hippo Zaritus, and the great harbor of Car- 
thage, now that of Tunis. Next to the Nile valley, this was 
the portion of Northern Africa most favored by Nature, and 
best suited for the habitation of a great power. 

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE ANCIENT AFRICAN. 
STATES. 

A. History of Egypt from the Earliest Times to the Persian Conquest. 
Sources. 1. Native : including (a) the Monuments themselves, which 
arc either inscriptions on buildings, sarcophagi, etc., or writings on papyrus. 
Only a portion of these have been edited. The best collections are : Lep- 
sius, Denlcmdler^ Berlin ; commenced in 1849, and still in progress. A 
magnificent work. Brugsch, H., Geograjjhische Inschriften altagijptischer 
Denlcmdler. Leipzig, 1857-60 ; 3 vols. 4to. Champollion le Jeune, 
Monuments de VEgypte et de la Nuhie. Paris, 1835-45 ; 4 vols, folio. Ro- 
SELLiNi, / monumenti dell Egitto e della Nubia. Pisa, 1832-43 ; text, 9 
vols. 8vo ; plates, 3 vols, folio. Important works on single subjects are 
Lepsius, Konigshuch der alten ^Egypten. Berlin, 1858 ; 2 vols. 4to ; and 
Wilkinson, Turin Papyrus. London. (6) The history of Manetho, writ- 
ten in Greek, about B.C. 260, but now existing only in fragments, and in the 
epitomes of Eusebius and Africanus (the latter known to us through Syncel- 
lus). The fragments have been collected and edited by C. Mueler in his 
Fragmenta Historicorum Grcecorum, vol. ii. 

2. Jeivish. Important notices of the condition of Egypt are contained in 
the Pentateuch, especially in Genesis and Exodus ; and likewise in Kings, 
Chronicles, and Jeremiah. Until the time of Rehoboam, however, the Egyp- 
tian monarchs, unfortunately, are not mentioned by name, the title, Phai-aoh, 
being used instead. This renders it impossible to identify, except conjectur- 
ally, the eai'lier Egyptian monarchs of Scripture with monumental or Mane- 
thonian kings. 

3. Greek, (a) The earliest, and in most respects the best Greek authority, 
is Herodotus, who reports faithfully what the Egyptian priests communi- 
cated to him as the history of their countr}^ when he visited Egypt about 
B. c. 460 to 450. If he is credulous with regard to the exaggerated chronol- 



lART II.] EGYPT. 75 

ogy required by the priestly system, we must remember that he had no means 
of knowing how long mankind had existed upon the earth. The sketch of 
Egyptian history supplied to him was scanty and incomplete, but in few re- 
spects untrue. It was, in a peculiar sense, monumental history, i. e., it was 
such a history as would naturally be obtained by a traveller who inquired 
principally concerning the founders of the great public edifices which came 
under his notice. The list of monarchs obtained in this way was, of course, 
not consecutive ; but the kings themselves were real personages, and the act- 
ual order of their reigns was only at one point seriously deranged. Herod- 
otus adds to his account of the Egyptian history a most graphic description 
of their manners, customs, and rehgious rites — a description which, though 
disfigured by some rhetorical exaggerations, and not free from mistakes of 
the kind which a, foreigner who pays a short visit to a country always makes, 
is yet by far the best and fullest account of these matters that has come down 
to us from ancient times, (b) The Greek writer who comes next to Herod- 
otus in the copiousness with which he treats Egyptian affiiirs is Diodorus, 
who, like Herodotus, visited Egypt, and who also professed to draw his nar- 
rative from information furnished him by the priests. The Egyptian history 
of Diodorus is, however, so manifestly based on that of Herodotus, which it 
merely supplements to a certain extent, that we can scarcely suppose it to 
have been drawn quite independently from native sources. Rather we must 
regard him as taking Herodotus for his basis, and as endeavoring to fill out 
tlie sketch with which that writer had furnished his countrymen. Api^arently 
he was wholly ignoi-ant of the history of Manetho. It is remarkable that the 
additions which Diodorus makes to the scheme of Herodotus are in almost 
every instance worthless. He desei-ves credit, however, for pointing out that 
the monarchs in Herodotus's list are often not consecutive, but separated from 
each other by intervals of several generations, (c) Eratosthenes of Gyrene, 
and Apollodorus the chronographer, treated Egyptian chronology from their 
own point of view, manipulating it at their pleasure in a way that was suf- 
ficiently arbitrary. They are of scarcely any value. 

Modern works on the subject of Egyptian History are nu- 
merous and important. The best are : 

Champollion le Jeune, VEgypte sous les Pharaons, ou Recherches sur 
la Geographic, la Religion, la Langue, les JEcritures, et VHistoire de VEgypte 
avant I'invasion de Camhyse. Paris, 1814 ; 2 vols. 

BuNSEN, Baron, JEgyptens Stelle in der Weltgeschichte. Hamburg, 
1845-57 ; 6 vols. 8vo. Translated into English under the title of Egypt's 
Place in Universal History, by Cottrell and Birch. London, 1848-G7 ; 
5 vols. 8vo. Rather materials for history than history itself. 

Kendrick, Ancient Egypt under the Pharaohs. London, 1850 ; 2 vols. 
8vo. 

Lepsius, Chronologie der jEgypter, Einleitung und Erster Theil : Kritik 
der Quellen. Beriin, 1849 ; 4to. 

Poole, R. S., Horce yEgyptiaccB. London, 1851 ; and article on Egypt 
in Dr. W. Sjiith's Dictionary of the Bible, vol. i. 

Wilkinson, Sir G., Historical Notice of Egypt in Rawlinson's Herod- 
otus, vol. ii. London, 1858-60. 



76 AFRICAN NATIONS. [book i. 

Falmek, W., Egyptian Chronicles, with a Harmony of Sacred and Egyp- 
tian Chronology, and an Appendix of Assyrian and Babylonian Antiquities. 
London, 1861 ; 2 vols. 8vo. 

Bkugsch, H., Histoire de VEgypte des les premiers temps de son existence. 
Leipzig, 1859 ; 4to, 1 vol. published ; to be completed in 3 vols. 

On the manners and customs of the Ancient Egyptians, 
the great work is — 

Wilkinson, Sir G., Manners and Citstoins of the Ancient Egyptians, in- 
cluding their Private Life, Government, Laws, etc., derived from a Compari- 
son of the Paintings, Sculptures, and Ornaments still existing, with the Ac- 
counts of Ancient Authors. London, 1837-41 ; G vols. 8vo. 

The best general account of the country will be found in 
the 

Description de VEgypte, ou Recueil des Observations et des Recherches qui 
ont ete faites en Egypte pendant V Expedition de I'Armee Frangaise. Paris, 
1809-20. Text, 9 vols, folio ; plates, 14 vols, folio. 

Smaller works, suitable for the ordinary student, are — 

Wilkinson, Sir G., Modern Egypt and Thebes. London, 1843; 2 vols. 
8vo ; and Handbook for Egypt. London, 1858 ; 2d edition, 8vo. 

1. The early establishment of monarchical government in 
Egypt is indicated in Scripture by the mention of a Pharaoh 
Anti 't f ^^ contemporary with Abraham. The full ac- 
the Egyptian count whicli is given of the general character of 
mouaic y. ^-^^ kingdom administered by Joseph suggests as 
the era of its foundation a date considerably more ancient 
than that of Abraham's visit. The priests themselves claim- 
ed for the monarchy, in the time of Herodotus, an antiquity 
of above 11,000 years. Manetho, writing after the reduction 
of his country by the Macedonians, was more moderate, as- 
signing to the thirty dynasties which, according to him, pre- 
ceded the Macedonian conquest, a number of years amount- 
ing in the aggregate to rather mJ^re than 5000. The several 
items which produce this amount may be correct, or nearly 
so ; but, if their sum is assumed as measuring the duration 
of the monarchy, the calculation will be largely in excess ; 
for the Egyptian monuments show that Manetho's dynasties 
were often reigning at the same time in different parts of the 
country. The difficulty of determining the true chronology 
of early Egypt arises from an uncertainty as to the extent 
to which Manetho's dynasties were contemporary. The 



I'AliT II.] 



EGYPT. 



monuments prove a certain amount of contemporaneity. 
But it is unreasonable to suppose that they exhaust the 
subject, or do more than indicate a practice the extent of 
which must be determined, partly by examination of our 
documents, partly by reasonable conjecture. 

2. A careful examination of the names and numbers in 

Manetho's lists, and a laborious investigation of the monu- 

, ments, have led the best English Effvptolosrers to 

Arrangement ' t • • -, i ■, 

of Manetho's construct, or adopt, the subjomed scheme, as that 
which best expresses the real position in which 
Manetho's first seventeen dynasties stood to one another. 



About 

B.C. 

2700 



2500 



2400 
2200 



2100 



2000 



1900 



1800 



1700 
1600 



1st 
Dynasty, 
Thiuite. 



2d 
Dynasty, 
Thinite. 



3d 

Dynasty, 

Memphite. 



4th 

Dynasty, 

Memphite. 



Cth 
Dynasty, 
Memphite, 



5th 
Dynasty, 
Elephan- 
tine. 



7th and 8th 
Dynasties, 
Memphite. 



9th 
Dynasty, 
Heracle- 
opolite. 



10th 
Dynasty, 
Heracle- 
opolite. 



11th 
Dynasty, 
Thebans. 



12th 
Dynasty, 
Thebans. 



13th 
Dynasty, 
Thebans. 



14th 
Dynasty, 
Xoites. 



15th 

Dynasty, 

Shepherds, 



17th 
Dynasty, 
Shepherds. 



16th 1 

Dynasty, > 

Shepherds. I 



3. It will be seen that, according to this scheme, there were 
in Egypt during the early period, at one time two, at another 
three, at another five or even six, parallel or contempora- 



AFRICAN NATIONS. 



[book I. 



Contempora- neoiis kingdoms, established in diiFerent parts of 
fJoni"ifc"27oo ^^^® country. For example, while the first and sec- 
-1525. ond dynasties of Manetho were ruling at This, his 

third, fourth, and sixth bore sway at Memphis- and, during 
a portion of this time, his fifth dynasty w^as ruling at Ele- 
phantine, his ninth at Heracleopolis, and his eleventh at 
Thebes or Diospolis. And the same general condition of 
things prevailed till near the close of the sixteenth century 
B.C., when Egypt was, probably for the first time, united into 
a single kingdom, ruled from the one centre, Thebes. 

4. It is doubtful how far the names and numbers in Mane- 
tho's first and third dynasties are historical. The correspond- 
ence of the name, Menes (M'na), with that of other 

IwlUGtuO S 

fu'st and third traditional founders of nations, or first men — with 
haps uuhis-^^' the Mancs of Lydia, the Phrygian Manis, the Cre- 
toncai. ^^^ Minos, the Indian Menu, the German Mannus, 

and the like — raises a suspicion that here too we are dealing 
with a fictitious personage, an ideal and not a real founder. 
The improbably long reign assigned to M'na (sixty or sixtyc 
two years), and his strange death — he is said to have been 
killed by a hippopotamus — increase the doubt which the 
name causes. M'na's son and successor, Athothis (Thoth), 
the Egyptian ^sculapius, seems to be equally mythical. The 
other names are such as may have been borne by real kings, 
and it is possible that in Manetho's time they existed on 
monuments; but the chronology, w^hich, in the case of the 
first dynasty, gives an average of thirty-two or thirty-three 
years to a reign, is evidently in excess, and can not be trusted. 



FIRST DYNASTY (THINITE). 


THIRD DYNASTY (MEMPHITE). 


Kings. 


Years. 


Kings. 


v..„. i 


Euseb. ! Afric. 


Euseb. 


Afric. 


1. Menes 


60 
27 
39 
42 
20 
26 
18 
26 


62 
57 
31 
23 
20 
26 
18 
26 


1. Necherophes 




28 
29 
7 
17 
16 
19 
42 
30 
26 


2. Athothis (his son) 

3. Kenkenes (his' son) . . . 

4. Uenephes (his son) . . . 

5. Usaphaedus (his son). . 

6. Miebidus (liis son).... 

7. Semempses (his son). . 

8. Bieneches (his son) . . . 


2. Tosorthrus 


3. Tyreis 


4. Mesochris 

5. Suphis 

6 Tosertasis 


7 Aches 


8. Sephuris 

9. Kerpheres 




258 


263 


298 


214 



5. With Manetho's second and fourth dynasties we reach 



PART 11.] EGYPT. 79 

the time of contemporary monuments, and feel ourselves on 
sure historical ground. The tomb of Koeechus (Ke-ke-ou), 
Real history ^^^ sccond king of the second dynasty, has been 
begins with found near the pyramids of Gizeh ; and Soris 
ualtyofpyra- (Shure), Suphis I. (Sliufu), SupHs II. (Nou-shufu), 
ami coiitem- and Mcucheres (Men-ka-re), the first four kings of 
anStrdy"*^ the fourth, are known to us from several inscrip- 
iiasties. tions. There is distinct monumental evidence that 

the second, fourth, and fifth dynasties were contemporary. 
The fourth was the principal one of the three, and bore sway 
at Memphis over Lower Egypt, while the second ruled Middle 
Egypt from This, and the fifth Upper Egypt from Elephan- 
tine. Probably the kings of the second and fifth dynasties 
were connected by blood with those of the fourth, and held 
their respective crowns by permission of the Memphite sov- 
ereigns. The tombs of monarchs belonging to all three dy- 
nasties exist in the neighborhood of Memphis ; and there is 
even some doubt whether a king of the fifth, Shafre, was not 
the true founder of the " Second Pyramid " near that city. 

6. The date of the establishment at Memphis of the fourth 
dynasty is given variously as B.C. 3209 (Bunsen), B.C. 2450 
Tiiefomthdy- (Wilkinson), and b.c. 2440 (Poole). And the time 
nasty. during which it occupied the throne is estimated 

variously at 240, 210, and 155 years. The Egyptian practice 
of association is a fertile source of chronological confusion ; 
and all estimates of the duration of a dynasty, so long as the 
practice continued, are mainly conjectural. Still the com- 
paratively low dates of the English Egyptologers are on 
every ground preferable to the higher dates of the Germans; 
and the safest conclusion that can be drawn from a compar- 
ison of Manetho with the monuments seems to be, that a pow- 
erful monarchy was established at Memphis as early as the 
middle of the twenty-fifth century B.C., which was in some 
sort paramount over the whole country. The kings of this 
dynasty were the following : 

1. Soris (Shurej, who reigned twenty-nine years according to Manetho, and 
built the northern pyramid of Abooseer, on the blocks of which his name has 
been found, ^. Suphis I. (Shufn), the Cheops of Herodotus and Chembes of 
Diodorus Siculus, the builder of the "Great Pyramid," to whom Manetho 
gives a reign of sixty-three years. 3. Suphis II. (Nou-shufu), his brother, who 
reigned conjointly with Suphis I., and took part in the construction of the 
" Great Pyramid. " He outlived his brother by at least three years. 4. Men- 



80 AFRICAN NATIONS. [book i. 

cheres (Men-ka-re), the Mycerinus of Herodotus and Diodorus, perhaps the 
son of Suphis I., the builder of the "Third Pyramid," which contained his 
sarcophagus. He reigned, hke Suphis I., sixty-three years. 5, Ratoises, 
twenty-five years. 6. Bicheris, twenty-two years, 7. Sebercheres, seven 
years. And 8. Thamphthis, nine years. Probable duration of the dynasty, 
about 220 years. ' 

7. It is evident from the monuments that the civilization 
of Egypt at this early date was in many respects of an ad- 
Advanced civ- vanced order. A high degree of mechanical sci- 
Egypt^aUhis ^i^ce and skill is implied in the quarrying, trans- 
about*if(f' porting, and raising into place of the huge blocks 
2440-2220. whcrcof the pyramids are composed, and consider- 
able mathematical knowledge in the emplacement of each 
pyramid so as exactly to face the cardinal points. Writing 
aj)pears in no rudimentary form, but in such a shape as to 
imjjly long use. Besides the hieroglyphics, which are well 
and accurately cut, a cursive character is seen on some of the 
blocks, the precursor of the later hieratic. The reed-pen and 
inkstand are among the hieroglyphics employed ; and the 
scribe appears, pen in hand, in the paintings on the tombs, 
making notes on linen or papyrus. The drawing of human 
and animal figures is fully equal, if not superior, to that of 
later times ; and the trades rejDresented are nearly the same 
as are found under the Ramesside kings. Altogether it is 
apparent that the Egyptians of the Pyramid period were not 
just emerging out of barbarism, but were a people who had 
made very considerable progress in the arts of life. 

8. The governmental system was not of the simple char- 
acter which is found in kingdoms recently formed out of vil- 

lasre or tribe communities, but had a complicated 

Elaborate ® . . , . , ^^ 

governmental organization 01 the sort which usually grows up 
sys em. ^yitli time. Egypt was divided into nomes, each 

of which had its governor. The military and civil services 
were separate, and each possessed various grades and kinds 
of functionaries. The priest caste was as distinct as in later 
times, and performed much the same duties. 

9. Aggressive war had begun to be waged. The mineral 
treasures of the Sinaitic peninsula excited the cupidity of the 
AtrjrresPive Memphitic kinoes, and Soris, the first kincr of the 

wars. Pyra- ..^ i tt-t 

mids perhaps dynasty, sccms to have conquered and , occupied 
lives. ^^'^^' it. The copper mines of Wady Maghara and 



PART II.] 



EGYPT. 



8] 



Sarabit-el-Kadim were worked by the great Pyramid mon- 
archs, whose operations there were evidently extensive. 
Whether there is any ground for regarding the kings in ques- 
tion as especially tyrannical, may perhaps be doubted. One 
of them was said to have written a sacred book, and another 
(according to Herodotus) had the character of a mild and 
good monarch. The pyramids may have been built by the 
labor of captives taken in war, in which case the native pop- 
ulation would not have suffered by their erection. 



CONTEMPORAKY DYNASTIES FROM ABOUT B.C. 2440 TO 2220. 



Bkanch Dynasty. 
II. Thinite. 



Chief or Stem Dynasty, 
IV. Mkmphite. 



Branch Dynasty. V. Ele- 
phantine. 



1. Boethus or Bochus 38 

2. Kceechus (Ke-ke- 

ou) 89 

3. Binothris 47 

4. Tlas 17 

5. Sethenes 41 

6. Chseres 17 

7. Nephercheres 25 

8. Sesochris 48 

9. Cheneres 30 



302 



Yrs. 

1. Soris 29 

2. SuphisI ) 

3. Suphis II. (bro- V 66 

ther) ) 

4. Menclieres (son of 

Suphis I.) 63 

5. Katoises 25 

6. Bicheris 22 

7. Sebercheres 7 

8. Thamphthis 9 



221 



1. Usercheres (Osir- 

kef) 28 

2. Sephres(Shafre).. 13 

3. Nephercheres 

(Nofr-ir-ke-re).. 20 

4. Sisires (Osir-n-re) . 7 

5. Cheres 20 

6. Rathures 44 

7. Mencheres 9 

8. Taucheres 44 

9. Onnus (U-nas). ... 33 

218 



10. The fourth or "pyramid" dynasty was succeeded at 
Memphis by the sixth Manethonian dynasty, about B.C. 2220. 
^^ . ,, , The second and fifth still bore sway at This and 

The sixth and „, , . , ., , ,, ■: i i i • 

parallel dy- Elephantuie ; Avhile wholly new and probably m- 
dependent dynasties now started up at Heracleop- 
olis and Thebes. The Memphitic kings lost their pre-emi- 
nence. Egypt was broken up into really separate kingdoms, 
among which the Theban gradually became the most pow- 
erful. 



CONTEMPORARY DYNASTIES FROM ABOUT B.C. 2220 TO 20SO. 



II. Thinite. 


VI. Memphite. 


V. Elephantine. 


IX. Heracle- 
opolite. 


XI. Theban. 


(Continuing 


Yrs. 

1. Othoes 30 


(Continuing.) 


Achthoes 


Sixteen kings. 


nnder the 


[2.Phio3 53 




(Muntopt I. 




last three 


3. Methosuphis . 7] 




Series 




kings.) 


4. Phiops (Pepi) 100 




of 






5. Menthesuphis #1 




Enentefs. 


- 




6. Nitocris 










(Neit-akret) 12 




Muntopt II.). 


IT. Ammenemes 










(Amun-m-h6). 




143 









4* 



82 



AFRICAN NATIONS. 



[hook I. 



11. The weakness of Egypt, thus parcelled out into five 
kingdoms, tempted foreign attack ; and, about b.c. 2080, or 
Invasion of ^ little later, a powerful enemy entered Lower 
LIf^^?r'I>ypt ^SYV^ from the north-east, and succeeded in de- 
conquereu. stroying the Memphite kingdom, and obtaining 
possession of almost the whole country below lat. 29° 30'. 
These were the so-called Hyk-sos, or Shepherd Kings, nom- 
ades from. either Syria or Arabia, who exercised with ex- 
treme severity all the rights of conquerors, burning the 
cities, razing the temples to the ground, exterminating the 
male Egyptian population, and making slaves of the women 
and children. There is reason to believe that at least two 
Shepherd dynasties (Manetho's fifteenth and sixteenth) were 
established simultaneously in the conquered territory, the 
fifteenth reigning at Memphis, and the sixteenth either in 
the Delta, or at Avaris (Pelusium ?). Native Egyptian dy- 
nasties continued, however, to hold much of the country. 
The ninth (Heracleopolite) held the Filioom and the Nile 
valley southward as far as Hermopolis ; the twelfth bore 
sway at Thebes ; the fifth continued undisturbed at Ele- 
phantiiue. In the heart, moreover, of the Shepherd con- 
quests, a new native kingdom sprang up ; and the four- 
teenth (Xoite) dynasty maintained itself throughout the 
whole period of Hyksos ascendency in the most central por- 
tion of the Delta. 

CONTEMPORARY DYNASTIES FROM ABOUT B.C. 20S0 TO 1900. 



V. Elephan- 
tine. 



XII. Theban. 

Yrs. 

1. Sesonchosis, son 

of Ammenemes 
(Sesortasen I.).. 46 

2. Ammenemes II. 

(Amun-m-he II.) 3S 

3. Sesostris (Sesor- 

tasen II.) 48 

4. [La]mares (Am- 

un-m-he III.)... 8 

5. Ameres 8 

6. Ammenemes III. 

(Amnn-m-helV.) R 

7. Skemiophris (his 

sister) 4 

160 

XIII. Theban. 



XIV. 

XOITB. 



XV. Shepherds. SHEPHsiiDS. 



(Continu- 
ing ii]L 

abont u.c. 
1850.) 



(Continu- 
ing-) 



Yrs 

Seventy- 1. Salatis... 19 
six 

kinf i^!2.Bnon.... 44 

484 



years. 



S.Apachnas 36 

4. Apophis. 01 

5. Jannas . . 50 

6. Asses — 49 

259 



Thirty 
kings in 

518 
years. 



12. Simultaneously with the irruption of the Shepherds 



PAKT ii.J EGYPT. • 85 

occurred an increase of the power of Thebes, which, under 
rx,. . „ u the monarchs of the twelfth dynasty, the Sesor- 

The twelfth , . , , . , *^ 

(Thebaii) dy- tascns and Amim-ra-hes acquired a paramount 
thlHyksosin authority over all Egypt from the borders of 
check. Ethiopia to the neighborhood of Memphis. The 

Elephantine and Heracleopolite dynasties, though continu- 
ing, became subordinate. Even Heliopolis, below Memphis, 
owned the authority of these powerful monarchs, who held 
the Sinaitic peninsula, and carried their arms into Arabia 
and Ethiopia. Araun-m-he III., who seems to be the Maris 
(or Lamaris) of Manetho and the Moeris of Herodotus, con- 
structed the remarkable Avork in the Faioom known as the 
Labyrinth. Sesortasen I. built numerous temples, and erect- 
ed an obelisk. Architecture and the arts generally flourish- 
ed; irrigation was extended; and the oppression of Lower 
Egypt under the rude Shepherd kings seemed for a consid- 
erable time to have augmented, rather than diminished, the 
prosperity of the Upper country. 

- 13. But darker days arrived. The Theban monarchs of 
the thirteenth dynasty, less warlike or less fortunate than 
The thir- their predcccssors, found themselves unable to re- 
banTdySy. sist the terrible " Shepherds," and, quitting their 
TheHyksos capital, fled into Ethiopia, while the invaders 

conquer Up- ^ f ^ i ' • i i? r, 

per Egypt. wreaked their vengeance on the memorials oi the 
Sesortasens. Probably, after a while, the refugees returned 
and took up the position of tributaries, a position which 
must also have been occupied by all the other native mon- 
archs who still maintained themselves, excepting possibly 
the Xoites, who may have found the marshes of the Delta 
an eflectual protection. The con^ylete establishment of the 
authority of the "Shepherds" may be dated about b.c. 1900. 
Their dominion lasted till about b.c. 1525. The seventh and 
eighth (Memphitic) dynasties, the tenth (Heracleopolite), and 
the seventeenth (Shepherd) belong to this interval. This is 
the darkest period of Egyptian history. "The Shepherds" 
left no monuments ; and during nearly 300 years the very 
names of the kings are unknoAvn to us. 

14. A new day breaks upon us with the accession to pow- 
Kevoit under er of Manetho's eighteenth dynasty, about b.c. 
Amosis. 1525, A great national movement, headed by 

Amosis (Ames or Aahmes), king of the Thebaid, drove the 



g2 . AFRICAN NATIONS. [book i. 

foreign invaders, after a stout conflict, from the soil of 
Egypt, and, releasing the country from the in- 
th?Hyksos. cubus whicli had so long lain uj)on it, allowed 
i^g%^riod of' the genius of the people free play. The most 
SlS^feoMhe flourishing period of Egyptian history followed. 
nileteeSth' ^^^^ Theban king, who had led the movement, re- 
and twentieth ceivcd as liis reward the supreme authority over 
the whole country, a right which was inherited 
by his successors. Egypt was henceforth, until the time of 
the Ethiopic conquest, a single centralized monarchy. Con- 
temporary dynasties ceased. Egyptian art attained its high- 
est perfection. The great temple-palaces of Thebes were 
built. Numerous obelisks were erected. Internal prosperi- 
ty led to aggressive wars. Ethiopia, Arabia, and Syria were 
invaded. The Euphrates was crossed ; and a portion of Mes- 
opotamia added to the empire. 

Kings of the Eighteenth Dynasty : — 1. Amos (Ames or Aahmes). 
Led the insurrection. Expelled the Shepherds. Keigned twenty-six years, 
B.C. 1525 to 1499. 2. Amunoph I. Married the widow of Amos. Reigned 
twenty-one years, b.c. 1499 to 1478. 3. Thothmes I. Warred in Ethio- 
pia. On his death, Amen-set, his daughter, became regent for his infant 
sons, 4. Thothmes 11. , who died a minor, and 5. Thothmes III., who 
became full king, after Amen-set (Amensis of Manetho) had held office for 
twenty-two years. This monarch was one of the most remarkable of the dy- 
nasty. He warred in Ethiopia, Arabia, Syria, and Western Mesopotamia, 
and is thought to declare that he took tribute from Nineveh, Is (Hit), and 
Babylon, His temples and other buildings at Karnac, Thebes, Memphis, 
Heliopolis, Coptos, and other places are magnificent. He reigned at least 
forty-seven years, including the time of his minority, from about B.C. 1461 to 
1414. 6. Amnnoph II., his son, whom he associated shortly before his 
death, succeeded him. His reign was short and uneventful. He was fol- 
lowed by his son, 7. Thothmes IV. (Tuthmosis of Manetho), who cut the 
great sphinx near the Pyramids. He waiTed with the Libyans and the Ethi- 
opians. His queen, Maut-m-va, appears to have been a foreigner. 8. Amu- 
noph III., son of Thothmes IV. and Maut-m-va, succeeded about b.c. 1400. 
He was a great and powerful sovereign. Military expeditions were made in 
his reign against most of the countries previously attacked by Thothmes III. 
Many great buildings were erected. Agriculture was improved by the con- 
struction of tanks or reservoirs. The two large Colossi were made, one of 
which is known as "the vocal Memnon." Amunoph further introduced 
some religious changes, which are obscure, but which seem to have been very 
distasteful to his subjects. He reigned at least thirty-six years, about b.c. 
1400 to 1364. 9. Horus, his son, succeeded as legitimate king ; but at the 
same time pretenders started up, possibly among his brothers and sisters, and 
for about thirty years the country was distracted by the claims of various 



PART II.] EGYPT. 85 

sovereigns. Horus, however, conquered or outlived his rivals, and in liis 
later years obliterated their memorials. He warred successfully in Africa, 
and made additions to the buildings at Kaniac, Luxor, and other places. 
His reign was reckoned at thirty-seven years, B.C. 1364 to 1327. 10. A 
king called Resitot (the Rathotis of Manetho) appears to have succeeded Ho- 
rus, and to have brought the dynasty to a close. His relationship to Horus 
is uncertain. He reigned only a few years, B.C. 1327 to 1324. 

Kings of the Nineteenth Dynasty: — 1. Ramesses I., founder of the 
dynasty (about B.C. 1324), derived his descent from Amos and Amunoph I., 
but not from any of the later kings. He reigned less than two years. 2. 
Seti, his son (the Sesostris of Herodotus and Diodorus, and the Sethos of 
Manetho), succeeded — a great and warlike monarch. He re-conquered Syria, 
which had revolted after the death of Amunoph III., and contended with the 
Arabs, the Hittites, the Tahai (Dai) on the borders of Cilicia, and the people 
of Western Mesopotamia. He built the Great Hall of Kaniac, and con- 
structed for himself the most beautiful of all the royal tombs. According +o 
Manetho, he reigned upward of fifty years. 3. Ramesses II. (Ramessu- 
miamun), who had for many years ruled conjointly with his father, became 
sole king on his decease. He warred in the same regions and with the same 
people as his father, and also carried his arms deep into the African conti- 
nent. The chief of his monuments is the Ramesseum (Memnonium) at 
Thebes. His stele, engraved on the rocks at the Nahr-el-Kelb, is well known. 
Egyptian art reached its culminating point in his reign. He opened a canal 
from the Nile above Bubastis to the Red Sea, and maintained a fleet in those 
waters. In all, he reigned sixty-six years, from about B.C. 1311 to 1245. 
4. Amenephthes (Menephthah), his son, succeeded. He is thought by some 
to be the Pharaoh of the Exodus. The length of his reign is uncertain. He 
was followed by his son, 5. Sethos II. (Seti), who was undistinguished, and 
had but a short reign. 

Kings of the Twentieth Dynasty:— Ramesses III. (perhaps the Rham- 
psinitus of Herodotus, who was famous for his full treasmy) ascended the 
throne about B.C. 1219. He was at once a great builder and a conqueror. 
He fought at sea with the Tokari (Carians ?) and the Khairetana (Cretans ?) ; 
and on land penetrated as far as Western Mesopotamia. His chief buildings, 
which are at Medinet-habu, though they are magnificent, indicate a certain 
decline of the arts. He was succeeded by four sons, who all bore the same 
name, Ramesses, and who were all equally undistinguished. Then came 
Ramesses VIII., the sixth king of the dynasty, who was more warlike than 
his predecessors, and made some successful foreign expeditions. Six or sev- 
en other kings of the same name followed, most of whom had short reigns. 
The dynasty seems to have come to an end about b.c. 1085. 

15. The decline of Egypt under the twentieth dynasty is 
very marked. We can ascribe it to nothing but internal 
Decline of the ^^^cay — a decay proceeding mainly from those 
monaichy be- natural causcs which are always at work, com- 
twentieth pelling nations and races, like individuals, after 
ynasty. ^j^^^ \i2i\Q reached maturity, to sink in vital force, 



86 AFRICAN NATIONS. [book i. 

to become debilitated, and finally to perish. Under the 
nineteenth dynasty Egypt reached her highest pitch of 
greatness, internal and external ; nnder the twentieth she 
rapidly sank, alike in military power, in artistic genius, and 
in taste. For a space of almost two centuries, from about 
B.C.- 1170 to 990, she scarcely undertook a single important 
enterprise ; her architectural efforts during the whole of this 
time were mean, and her art without spirit or life. Subse- 
quently, in the space between b.c. 990 and the Persian con- 
quest, B.C. 525, she experienced one or two "revivals;" but 
the reaction on these occasions, being spasmodic and forced, 
exhausted rather than recruited her strength ; nor did the 
efforts made, great as they were, suffice to do more than 
check for a while the decadence which they could not avert. 

16. Among the special causes w^hich produced this unusu- 
ally rapid decline, the foremost place must be assigned to 
Causes of the ^^^ Spirit of castc, and particularly to the undue 
decline. predominance of the sacerdotal order. It is true 

that castes, in the strict sense of the word, did not exist in 
Egypt, since a son was not absolutely compelled to follow 
his father's profession. But the separation of classes was so 
sharply and clearly defined, the hereditary descent of pro- 
fessions was so much the rule, that the system closely ap- 
proximated to that which has been so long established in 
India, and which prevails there at the present day. It had, 
in fact, all the evils of caste. It discouraged progress, ad- 
vance, improvement ; it repressed personal ambition ; it pro- 
duced deadness, flatness, dull and tame uniformity. The 
priestly influence, which pervaded all ranks from the highest 
to the lowest, was used to maintain a conventional standard, 
alike in thought, in art, and in manners. Any tendency to 
deviate from the set forms of the old religion, that at any 
time showed itself, was sternly checked. The inclination of 
art to become naturalistic was curbed and subdued. All 
intercourse with foreigners, which might have introduced 
changes of manners, was forbidden. The aim was to main- 
tain things at a certain set level, w^hich was fixed and unal- 
terable. But, as " non progredi est regredi," the result of 
repressing all advance and improvement was to bring about 
a rapid and general deterioration. 

Compare the accounts of the Egyptian castes, which are given by Herodo- 



PART II.] EGYPT. 87 

tus, Plato, and Diodorus, with the remarks on the subject made by moderns. 
Herodotus represents the castes, or classes, as seven — viz., priests, w^arriors, 
cowherds, swineherds, tradesmen, interpreters, and boatmen ; Plato as six — 
viz., priests, warriors, shepherds, artificers, husbandmen, and huntsmen; 
Diodorus as five — viz., priests, Avarriors, herdsmen, artificers, and husband- 
men. Moderns lay it down that there were really five general classes — those 
of Diodorus — and that some of these were again subdivided, as is the case 
with some castes in India. 

17. The growing influence of the priests, which seems to 
have reduced the later monarchs of the twentieth dynasty 
The twent *^ fameants, w^as shown still more markedly in 
first dynasty the acccssion to powcr, about B.C. 1085, of the 
kiugs^B.c. priestly dynasty of " Tanites," who occupy the 
1085-990. twenty-first place in Manetho's list. These kings, 
who style themselves " High-priests of Amun," and who wear 
the priestly costume, seem to have held their court at Tanis 
(Zoan), in the Delta, but w^ere acknowledged for kings equal- 
ly in Ui:)per Egypt. It must have been to one of them that 
Hadad fled when Joab slaughtered the Edomites, and in 
their ranks also must be sought the Pharaoh who gave his 
daughter in marriage to Solomon. According to Manetho, 
the dynasty held the throne for rather more than a hundred 
years ; but the computation is thought to be in excess. 

Kings of the Twenty-first Dynasty: — 1. Smendes, who reigned 
twenty-six years. 2. Psusennes (Pisham I.). Eeigned forty-one or forty- 
six years. 3. Nepherchercs. Reigned four years. 4. Amenephthes (Me- 
neplithahll.). Reigned nine yeai's. 5. Osochor (probably Pehor). Reigned 
six' years. Left sculptures in a temple at Thebes. 6. Psinaches (Pionkh). 
Reigned nine years. 7. Psusennes II. (Pisham II.), his son. Left sculptures 
in the same temple as Pehor. Reigned fourteen (or thirty-five) years. 

18. With Sheshonk, the first king of the twenty-second 
dynasty, a revival of Egyptian power to a certain extent 

occurred. Though Sheshonk himself takes the 
uulerthe title of " High-pricst of Amun," having married 
ond"dy?asty, the daughter of Pisham II., the last king of the 
B.0. 993-S47. sacerdotal (twenty-first) dynasty, yet beyond this 
no priestly character attaches to the monarchs of his house. 
Sheshonk resumes the practice of military expeditions, and 
his example is followed by one of the Osorkons. Monuments 
of some pretensions are erected by the kings of the line, at 
Thebes and at Bubastis in the Delta, which latter is the 
royal city of the time. The revival, however, is partial and 



88 AFRICAN NATIONS. [book i. 

short-lived, the later monarchs of the dynasty being as un- 
distinguished as any that had preceded them on the throne. 

Kings of the Twenty-second Dynasty : — 1. Sheshonk (the Shishak 
of Scripture, and probably the Asychis of Herodotus). Ascends the throne 
about B.C. 993, and reigns twenty-one years, B.C. 993 to 972. Receives Jero- 
boam at his court, and afterwards makes an expedition against Palestine, to 
establish Jeroboam in his kingdom. Invades Judoea, receives the submission 
of Rehoboam, and plunders Jerusalem. Succeeded by his son, 2. Osorkon 
I., who reigns fifteen years, from b.c. 972 to 957, and leaves the crown to his 
son, 3. Pehor, who holds it not more than a year or two, when he is suc- 
ceeded, or superseded, by his brother-in-law, 4. Osorkon II., who was per- 
haps an Ethiopian prince, married to a daughter of Osorkon I. This king 
is probably the Zerach of Scripture, who made an unsuccessful expedition 
against Asia, about b.c. 942. He reigned twenty-three years, from b.c. 956 
to 933. 5. Sheshonk II. , his son, succeeded him ; after whom the crown 
passed to a "prince of the Mashoash," 6. Takelot I., who was married to 
Keromama, a granddaughter of the third king, Pehor. He reigned (prob- 
ably) twenty-three years, when he was succeeded by his son, 7. Osorkon 
III., who reigned at least twenty-eight years. He left the crown to his son, 
8. Sheshonk III., who also reigned as much as twenty-eight or twenty-nine 
years. The dynasty ended with 9. Takelot II., son of Sheshonk III., the 
length of whose reign is quite uncertain. The probable duration of the dy- 
nasty was 146 years, b.c. 993 to 847. 

19. The decline of the monarchy advanced now with rapid 
strides. On the death of Takelot II., a disintegration of the 
Further de- kingdom seems to have taken place. While the 
ty-thhd and " Bubastitc line was carried on in a third Pisham 
SasSI ^B^c. (oi' Pishai) and a fourth Sheshonk, a rival line, 
84T-758. Manetho's twenty-third dynasty, sprang up at 
Tanis, and obtained the chief power. The kings of this line, 
who are four in number, are wholly undistinguished. 

Kings of the Twenty-third Dynasty : — 1. Petubastes (Pet-su-pasht). 
Reigned forty years. 2. Osorko (Osorkon IV.). Reigned eight years. 3. 
Psammus (Pse-mut). Reigned ten years. 4. Zet (probably Seti III.). 
Reigned thirty-one years. Duration of the dynasty, eighty-nine years, from 
B.C. 847 to 758. 

20. A transfer of the seat of empire to Sais, another city 
of the Delta, now took place. A king whom Manetho and 
The twenty- Diodorus Called Bocchoris (perhaps Pehor) as- 
twenty-fifth ccndcd the throne. This monarch, after he had 
Egypt con- reigned forty-four years — either as an independ- 
Ethiopiaf ^^* prince or as a tributary to Ethiopia — was 
about B.C. 730. p^t to death by Sabaco, an Ethiopian, who con- 
quered Egypt and founded the twenty-fifth dynasty. 



PART II.] EGYPT. 89 

Kings of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty: — 1. Sabaco I. (Shebek I.), the 
So or Seveh of Scripture. His treaty with Hoshea, the last king of Israel, 
must have been made about u.c. 72i. Its conclusion shows that the en- 
croachments of Assj^ria had begun to cause alarm. The first hostile contact 
between Assyria and Egypt occurred in his reign. Sargon, who was his ad- 
versary, defeated his troops, and made himself master of PhiHstia, about b.c. 
719. ^. Sabaco II., the Sevechus of Manetho, succeeded, about B.C. 704. 
His reign of fourteen years tenninated b, c. 690, when the third and greatest 
of the Ethiopian monarchs mounted the throne. This was 3. Tehrak — the 
Tirhakah of the Jews, and the Tarcus, Taracus, or Tearchon of the Greek 
writers — who contended successively Avith Sennacherib, Esarhaddon, and 
Asshur-bani-pal. Discomfiture of Sennacherib, about B.C. 098. Esarhad- 
don invades Lower Egypt, about b.c. G69, and breaks it up into a num- 
ber of small kingdoms. Tirhakah re-establishes his authority, b.c. 668. 
Asshur-bani-pal, having succeeded, contends with Tirhakah for two years. 
Tirhakah is defeated and abdicates in favor of his son, who is driven out. 
Egypt is then once more broken up into petty kingdoms (compare the do- 
decarchy of Herodotus), and remains subject to Assyria, probably till the 
death of Asshur-bani-pal, about b.c. 647. Nechoh, the father of Psammeti- 
clius, is among the \dceroys whom Asshur-bani-pal sets up. 

21. Thus it appears that between b.c. 730 and 665 Egypt 
was conquered twice — first by the Ethiopians, and then, 
Assyrian con- within about sixty years, by the Assyrians. The 
fSril^La native Egyptian army had grown to be weak and 
^^^- contemptible, from a practice, which sprang up 
under the Sheshonks, of employing mainly foreign troops in 
military exj^editions. There was also (as has been observed 
already) a general decline of the national spirit, which made 
submission to a foreign yoke less galling than it would have 
been at an earlier date. 

22. It is diflicult to say at what exact time the yoke of 
Assyria w^as thrown ofi^. Psammetichus (Psamatik I.), who 
Ee-estabiish- seems to have succeeded his father, Nechoh, or to 
S^ind?^^" ^^ave been associated by him, almost immediately 
de?the tweS'- ^^^^^' ^^^^ (Ncchoti's) establishment as viceroy by 
ty-sixth Asshur-bani-pal, counted his reign from the abdi- 
ty, about B.O. cation of Tirhakah, as if he had from that time 

been independent and sole king. But there can 
be little doubt that in reality for several years he was mere- 
ly one of manj^ rulers, all equally subject to the great mon- 
arch of Assyria. The revolt which he headed may have 
happened in the reign of Asshur-bani-pal ; but, more proba- 
bly, it fell in that of his successor. Perhaps its true cause 
was the shattering of Assyrian power by the invasion of the 



90 AFRICAN NATIONS. [book i. 

Scytlis, about b.c. 632. Psammetichiis, by the aid of Greek 
mercenaries, and (apparently) after some opposition from his 
brother viceroys, made himself independent, and established 
his dominion over the whole of Egypt. Native rule was 
thus restored after nearly a century of foreign domination. 

Kings of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty: — 1. Psammetichus (Psamatik 
I.). Married an Ethiopian princess. Settled the Greek mercenaries in per- 
manent camps near Bubastis. Offended the warrior caste, which deserted in 
great numbers to the Ethiopians, Encouraged art and constructed several 
great works. Besieged and took Ashdod. Bribed the Scythians to retire 
from Palestine without attacking Eg^-pt, Was of an inquiring turn of mind, 
and tried many curious experiments. Reigned fifty-four years in all, from b.c. 
G64: to GIO ; but was probably not an independent monarch for more than 
twenty or thirty years. 2. Nechoh, his son. Reigned sixteen years, from b.c. 
610 to 594. Applied himself to naval and commercial matters. Built fleets 
in the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. Attempted to re-open the canal be- 
tween the Red Sea and the Nile. Had Africa circumnavigated. Invaded 
Syria in his second year, b.c. 609; defeated Josiah at Megiddo, and con- 
quered the whole tract between Egypt and Carchemish, on the Eujihrates. 
Attacked by Nebuchadnezzar, b.c. 605 ; was defeated and forced to yield all 
his conquests. 3. Psammis (Psamatik 11. ), his son. Reigned only six years, 
from B.C. 594 to 588. Made an expedition into Ethiopia. 4. Apries (the 
Uaphris of Manetho, and the Pharaoh-hophi-a of Scripture), his son. Reigned 
nineteen years, from b.c. 588 to 569. Resumed the aggressive policy of his 
grandfather. Besieged Sidon, and fought a naval battle with Tyre. Assist- 
ed Zedekiah against Nebuchadnezzar, but ineffectually. Made an expedition 
against Cyrene, which ended ill. Deposed, either by a revolt on the part of 
his own subjects, or more probably by Nebuchadnezzar, b. c. 569. Succeeded 
by 5. Amasis (Ames or Aahmes), who probably held his crown at first un- 
der the Babylonian monarch. Having strengthened himself by marrying a 
niece of the late king, daughter of his sister, Nitocris, he after a while made 
himself independent. He adorned Sais with grand buildings, and left monu- 
ments in all parts of the country. He encouraged Greek merchants to settle 
in Egypt, and was on friendly terms with Cyrene and other Greek States. 
The only expedition which he undertook was one against Cyprus, which sub- 
mitted and became tributary. Fearing the growing power of Persia, he al- 
lied himself with Croesus of Lydia and Poly crates of.Samos ; but nothing was 
gained by these prudential measures. After the death of Cyrus, Cambyses, 
his son, collected a great expedition against Egypt, and had probably com- 
menced his march when Amasis died, having reigned forty-four years. The 
task of resisting this attack fell on his son, 6. Psammenitus (Psamatik III.), 
Avho met Cambyses near Pelusium, but was defeated and com- 
queiNcd by pelled to shut himself up in his capital, Memphis, Mhich was 
Cambyses, shortly besieged and taken. Psammenitus was made prisoner 
after he had reigned six months, and soon afterwards, being sus- 
pected of an intention to revolt, was put to death, b.c. 525. Thus perished 
the Egyptian monarchy, after it had lasted, as a single united kingdom, for a 
thousand vears. 



PART 11. ] CARTHAGE. 91 

23. The revolts of Egypt from Persia will necessarily come 
under consideration in the section on the Achaemenian Mon- 
Revoits, ii.c. archy. Egypt was the most disaffected of all the 
460-455. Persian provinces, and was always striving after 

independence. Her antagonism to Persia seems to have been 
less political than polemical. It was no doubt fermented by 
the priests. On two occasions independence was so far 
achieved that native rulers were set up ; and Manetho counts 
three native dynasties as interrupting the regular succession 
of the Persians. These form the twenty-eighth, the twenty- 
ninth, and the thirtieth of his series. The first of these con- 
sists of one king only, Amyrtaeus, who revolted in conjunc- 
tion with Inarus, and reigned from b.c. 460 to 455. The other 
two dynasties are consecutive, and cover the space 

B.C. 405-346. ^ '', ^^ ' .^1 • ^ ta • xt .x. / 

from the revolt m the reign ot Darius isothus (b.c. 
405) to the re-conquest under Ochus (b.c. 346). 

I\JNGS or THE Twenty-ninth (Mendesian) Dynasty: — 1. Nefevites 
(Nefaorot). Reigned six years, B.C. 405 to 399. 2. Achoris (Hakar). 
RiigneJ thirteen years, B.C. 399 to 386. 3. Psammuthis. Reigned one 
year, B.C. 386 to 385. 4. Nepherites II. Reigned four months, b.c. 384. 

Kings of the Thirtieth (Sebennytic) Dynasty : — 1. Nectanebo I. 
(Necht-nebef). Reigned eighteen years, b.c. 381 to 366. 2. Teos or Tachos. 
Reigned two years, b.c. 366 to 364. 3. Nectanebo II. (Necht-nebef). 
Reigned eighteen years, B.C. 364 to 346. 

B. History of Carthage from its Foundation to the Commencement of the 
Wars with Rome. 

Sources. It is unfortunate that we possess no native accounts of the 
History of Carthage. Native histories existed at the time of the Roman 
conquest, and were seen by Sallust ; but no translation was made of them 
into the tongue of the conqueror. The Carthaginian inscriptions Avhich 
modern research has discovered are in no instance historical. We have not 
even any description by a Greek or Latin Avriter of the general character or 
contents of the native histories. Nor is the deficiency of native records 
compensated by any exact or copious accounts from the pens of foreigners, 
Herodotus, who gives us monographs on the histories of so many ancient 
nations, is almost Avholly silent about Carthage. Tim^eus, Ephorus, and 
Theopompus, the earliest Greek authors who treated of Cartliaginian affairs 
at any length, were writers of poor judgment ; and of their works, moreover, 
we have nothing but a few fragments. The earliest and most important no- 
tice of Carthage which has come down to us is Aristotle's account of the 
form of government (Pol. ii. 11). From this most valuable passage, com- 
bined with scattered notices in other writers, the constitutional histoiy of the 
great commercial republic may be to some extent reconstructed. For the 
general course of her civil history, for her foundation ^nd her earlier wars 



92 AFEICAN NATIONS. [book i. 

and conquests, we must have recourse to Justin, Diodorus, and Polybius. 
The later wars are treated at some length, but from a Roman point of view, 
by Polybius, Livy, and Appian. Herodotus has some important notices con- 
nected with the trade of the Carthaginians, on which farther light is thrown 
by two translations of Carthaginian works, which are still extant. These are : 

Hanno, Periplus, in C. Mtjller's Geographi Greed Minores. Paris, 
1855 ; and ed. Falconek. London, 1797. 

Festds Avienus, Ora Maritima (i. 80-130 ; iv. 375-412), in Hudson's 
Geographi Minores, vol. iv. Oxford, 1698. 

Modern works touching on the history of Carthage are 
the following : 

BoTTiCHER, Geschichte der Carthager nach den Quellen, 8vo. Berlin, 
1827. 

Heeren, Ideen iiber die Politik, etc., vol. iv. Translated into English, 
and published at Oxford by Talboys, 1832. 

Davis, Dr. N., Carthage and her Remains. London, 1861. Containing 
an account of excavations on the site of Carthage made in the ^'ears 1857 
and 1858. 

The history of Carthage may be conveniently divided into 
three periods — the first extending from the foundation of 
the city to the commencement of the wars with Syracuse, 
B.C. 850 to 480 ; the next from the first attack on Syracuse 
to the breaking out of war with Rome, b.c. 480 to 264 ; and 
the third from the commencement of the Roman wars to 
their termination by the destruction of Carthage, b.c. 264 to 
146. In the present place, only the first and second of these 
periods will be considered. 

FIRST PERIOD. 

Froyn the Foundation of Carthage to the Commencement of the Wars with 
Syracuse, from about B.C. 850 to 480. 

1. The foundation of Carthage, which was mentioned in 
the Tyrian histories, belonged to the time of Pygmalion, the 
Foundation SOU of Matgcu, who sccms to havc reigned from 
andpo^tfou about B.C. 871 to 824. The colony appears to 
of the city. have taken its rise, not from the mere commer- 
cial spirit in which other Tyrian settlements on the same 
coast had originated, but from political differences. Still, 
its relations with the mother city were, from first to last, 
friendly,; though the bonds of union were under the PhcE- 
nician system of colonization even weaker and looser than 
under the Greelv The site chosen for the settlement was a 



PART II.] CARTHAGE. 93 

peninsula, projecting eastward into the Gulf of Tunis, and 
connected with the mainland towards the west by an isth- 
mus about three miles across. Here were some excellent 
land-locked harbors, a position easily defensible, and a soil 
which Avas ftiirly fertile. The settlement was made with the 
good-will of the natives, who understood the benefits of 
commerce, and gladly let to the new-comers a portion of their 
soil -at a fixed rent. For many years the place must have 
been one of small importance, little (if at all) superior to 
Utica or Hadrumetum; but by degrees an advance was 
made, and within a century or two from the date of her 
foundation, Carthage liad become a considerable power, had 
shot ahead of all the other Phoenician settlements in these 
parts, and had acquired a large and valuable dominion. 

2. The steps of the advance are somewhat difficult to 
trace. It w^ould seem, however, that, unlike the other Phoe- 
Eapid ad- nician colonies, and unlike the Phoenician cities 
vance. ^^f ^j-^^ Asiatic mainland themselves, Carthage 
aimed from the first at uniting a land with a sea dominion. 
The native tribes in the neighborhood of the city, originally 
nomades, were early won to agricultural occupations ; Car- 
thaginian colonies were thickly planted among them ; inter- 
marriages between the colonists and the native races were 
encouraged ; and a mixed people grew up in the fertile ter- 
ritory south and south-west of Carthage, knoAvn as Liby- 
Phoenices, who adopted the language and habits of the im- 
migrants, and readily took up the position of faithful and 
attached subjects. Beyond the range of territory thus oc- 
cupied, Carthaginian influence was further extended over a 
large number of pure African tribes, of whom some applied 
themselves to agriculture, while the majority preserved their 
old nomadic mode of life. These tribes, like the Arabs in 
the modern Algeria, were held in a loose and almost nomi- 
nal subjection ; but still were reckoned as, in a certain sense, 
Carthaginian subjects, and no doubt contributed to the re- 
sources of the empire. The proper territory of Carthage 
was regarded as extending southward as far as the Lake 
Triton, and westward to the river Tusca, which divided 
Zeugitana from Numidia, thus nearly coinciding with the 
modern Beylik of Tunis. 

3. But these limits were far from contenting the ambition 



94 AFRICAN NATIONS. [book i. 

of the Carthaginians. From the compact and valuable ter- 
Extentofthe I'itory above described, they proceeded to bring 
land power, within the scopc of their influence the tracts which 
lay beyond it eastward and westward. The authority of 
Carthage came gradually to be acknowledged by all the 
coast-tribes between the Tusca and the Pillars of Hercules, 
as well as by the various nomad races between Lake Triton 
and the territory of Cyrene. In the former tract numerous 
settlements were made, and a right of marching troops along 
the shore was claimed and exercised. From the latter only 
commercial advantages were derived ; but these were prob- 
ably of considerable imjDortance. 

4. In considei-ing the position of the Carthaginians in Af- 
rica, it must not be forgotten that the Phoenicians had found- 
„ , ^. . , ed numerous settlements on the African mainland, 

Relations with t , ^ i i i r» i /. 

other Ph<3eni- and that Carthage was only the most powerful oi 
these colonies. Utica, Hadrumetum, Leptis Mag- 
na, and other places, were at the first independent communi- 
ties over which Carthaore had no more rioht to exercise 
authority than they had over her. The dominion of Car- 
thage seems to have been by degrees extended over these 
places ; but to the last some of them, more especially Utica, 
retained a certain degree of independence ; and, so far as 
these settlements are concerned, we must view Carthage 
rather as the head of a confederacy than as a single central- 
ized power. Her confederates were too weak to resist her or 
to exercise much check upon her policy ; but she had the dis- 
advantage of being less than absolute mistress of many places 
lying within her territory. 

5. But the want of complete unity at home did not prevent 
her from aspiring after an extensive foreign dominion. Her 
Colonies in influence was established in Western Sicily at an 
the islands. ^^^.|y ^|^^^^ ^^^^ Superseded in that region tlie still 
more ancient influence of Phoenicia. Sardinia was conquered, 
after long and bloody wars, towards the close of the sixtli 
century b.c. The Balearic islands, Majorca, Minorca, and 
Ivica, seem to have been occupied even earlier. At a later 
time, settlements were made in Corsica and Spain ; while the 
smaller islands, both of the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, 
Madeira, the Canaries, Malta, Gaulos (Gozo), and Cercina, 
were easily subjugated. By the close of the sixth century. 



i'ART II.] CARTHAGE. 95 

Carthaginian power extended from the greater Syrtis to the 
Fortunate Islands, and from Corsica to the flanks of Atlas. 

6. To eflect her conquests, the great trading city had, al- 
most of necessity, recourse to mercenaries. Mercenaries had 
Land force of t)een employed by the Egyptian monarchs as early 
mercenaries, ^s the time of Psammetichus (b.c. 664), and were 
known to Homer about two centuries previously. Besides 
the nucleus of a disciplined force which Carthage obtained 
from her own native citizens and from the mixed race of 
Liby-Phoenices, and besides the irregulars which she drew 
from her other subjects, it was her practice to maintain large 
bodies of hired troops [fiKrdocpopovg), derived partly from the 
independent African nations, such as the Numidians and the 
Mauritanians, partly from the warlike European races witli 
which her foreign trade brought her into contact — the Iberi- 
ans of Spain, the Celts of Gaul, and the Ligurians of North- 
ern Italy. The first evidence that we have of the existence 
of this practice belongs to the year b.c. 480; but there is suf- 
ficient reason to believe that it commenced considerably 
earlier. 

7. The naval power of Carthage must have dated from 
the foundation of the city ; for, as the sea in ancient times 

swarmed with pirates, an extensive commerce re- 
'^^^' quired and implies the possession of a powerful 
navy. For several centuries the great Phoenician settlement 
must have been almost undisputed mistress of the Western 
and Central Mediterranean, the only approach to a rival be- 
ing Tyrrhenia, which was, however, decidedly inferior. The 
oflicers and sailors in the fleets were mostly native Cartha- 
ginians, while the rowers were mainly slaves, whom the State 
bred or bought for the purpose. 

8. Towards the middle of the sixth century b.c, the jeal- 
ousy of the Carthaginians was aroused by the intrusion, into 
Commercial waters wliich they regarded as their own, of Greek 
tweeutheCar- Commerce. The enterprising Phocjjeans opened a 
amfthl^"^ trade with Tartessus, founded Massilia near the 
Gi-eeks, mouth of the Rhone, and sought to establish them- 
selves in Corsica in force. Hereupon Carthage, assisted by 
Tyrrhenia, destroyed the Phocisan fleet, about b.c 550. Soon 
afterwards quarrels arose in Sicily between the Carthagini- 
ans and the Greek settlements there, provoked apparently 



96 AFRICAN NATIONS. [book i. 

by the latter. About the same time Rome, under the second 
Tarqum, became a flourishing kingdom, and a naval power 
of some consequence ; and Carthage, accustomed to maintain 
friendly relations with the Italians, concluded a treaty with 
the rising State, about B.C. 508. 

9. The constitution of Carthage, like that of most other 
great trading communities, was undoubtedly aristocratic. 
Constitution The native element, located at Carthage, or in the 
ot Carthage, immediate neighborhood, was the sole depositary 
of political power, and governed at its will all the rest of the 
empire. Within this native element itself the chief distinc- 
tion, which divided class from class, was that of w^ealth. 
The two Suifetes indeed, who stood in a certain sense at the 
head of the State, seem to have been chosen only from cer- 
tain families ; but otherwise all native Carthaginians were 
eligible to all offices. Practically what threw power into 
the hands of the rich was the fact that no office was salaried, 
and that thus the poor man could not aflbrd to hold office. 
Public opinion was also strongly in favor of the rich. Can- 
didates for power were expected to expend large sums of 
money, if not in actual bribery, yet at any rate in treating 
on the most extensive scale. Thus office, and with it power, 
became the heritage of a certain knot of peculiarly Avealthy 
families. 

10. At the head of the State were two Suffetes, or Judges, 
who in the early times were Captains-general as well as 
The Suffetes, chief civil magistrates, but whose office gradually 
Sen "t*e ofone ^^^^ ^o be regarded as civil only and not military. 
Hundred. These were elected by the citizens from certain 
families, probably for life. The next power in the State was 
the Council (o-vyjcXryroe), a body consisting of several hun- 
dreds, from which were appointed, directly or indirectly, al- 
most all the officers of the government — as the Senate of 
One Hundred (yepovcria), a Select Committee of the Council 
which directed all its proceedings; and the Pentarchies, 
Commissions of Five Members each, which managed the va- 
rious departments of State, and filled up vacancies in the 
Senate. The Council of One Hundred (or, with the two Suf- 
fetes and the two High-priests, 104) Judges, a High Court 
of Judicature elected by the people, was the most popular 
element in the Constitution ; but even its members were 



PART II.] CARTHAGE. 97 

The Council practically chosen fi'oni the upper classes, and 
tired"and"'^ their power was used rather to check the excess- 
Four, ive ambition of individual members of the aris- 
tocracy than to augment the civil rights or improve the so- 
cial condition of the people. The people, however, were 
contented. They elected the Suffetes under certain restric- 
tions, and the generals freely; they probably filled up va- 
cancies in the Great Council ; and in cases where the Suifetes 
and the Council differed, they discussed and determined po- 
litical measures. Questions of peace and war, treaties, and 
the like, were frequently, though not necessarily, brought 
before them ; and the aristocratical character of the Consti- 
tution was maintained by the weight of popular opinion, 
which was in favor of power resting with the rich. Through 
the openings which trade gave to enterprise any one might 
become rich ; and extreme poverty was almost unknown, 
since no sooner did it appear than it was relieved by the 
planting of colonies and the allotment of waste lands to all 
who applied for them. 

11. As the power of Carthage depended mainly on her 
maintenance of huge armies of mercenaries, it was a necessi- 
ty of her position that she should have a larc^e 

Revenue. *' , ^ rrii • it • ^ n 

and secure revenue. This she drew, m part from 
State property, particularly mines, in Spain and elsewhere ; 
in part from tribute, which was paid alike by the federate 
cities (Utica, Hadrumetum, etc.), by the Liby-Phceuices, by 
the dependent African nomades, and by the provinces (Sar- 
dinia, Sicily, etc.) ; and in part from customs, which were 
exacted rigorously through all her dominions. The most 
elastic of these sources of revenue was the tribute, which 
was augmented or diminished as her needs required ; and 
which is said to have amounted sometimes to as much as 
fifty per cent, on the income of those subject to it. 

12. The extent of Carthaginian commerce is uncertain; 
but there can be little doubt that it reached, at any rate, to 

the follovvino- places : in the north, Cornwall and 

Commerce. , o -n t i i • -i -r»i • • ■^ 

the bcilly Islands ; m the east, Phoenicia ; towards 
the west, Madeira, the Canaries, and the coast of Guinea; 
towards the south, Fezzan. It was chiefly a trade by which 
Carthage obtained the commodities that she needed — v/ine, 
oil, dates, salt fish, silphium, gold, tin, lead, salt, ivory, pre- 

5 



98 AFRICAN NATIONS. [book i. 

cious stones, and slaves ; exchanging against them her own 
manufactures — textile fabrics, hardware, pottery, ornaments 
for the person, harness for horses, tools, etc. But it was 
also to a considerable extent a carrying trade, whereby Car- 
thage enabled the nations of Western Europe, Western Asia, 
and the interior of Africa to obtain respectively each other's 
products. It was in part a land, in part a sea traffic. While 
the Carthaginian merchants scoured the seas in all directions 
in their trading vessels, caravans directed by Carthaginian 
enterprise penetrated the Great Desert, and brought to Car- 
thage from the south and the south-east the products of 
those far-oiF regions. Upper Egypt, Cyrcne, the oases of 
the Sahara, Fezzan, perhaps Ethiopia and Bornou, carried on 
in this way a traffic with the great commercial emporium. 
By sea her commerce was especially with Tyre, with her 
own colonies, with the nations of the Western Mediterrane- 
an, with the tribes of the African coast from the Pillars of 
Hercules to the Bight of Benin, and with the remote barba- 
rians of South-western Albion. 



SECOND PERIOD. 

From the Commencement of the Wars with Syracuse to the breaking out of 
the first War with Rome, B.C. 480 to 264. 

1. The desire of the Carthaginians to obtain complete pos- 
session of Sicily is in no way strange or surprising. Their pres- 
V of Car- ^^^^ rested mainly on their maritime supremacy ; 
thage upon and tliis Supremacy was open to question, so long 
great inva- as the large island which lay closest to them and 
sion,B.o. . jjjQg^ directly opposite to their shores was mainly, 
or even to any great extent, under the influence of aliens. 
The settlement of the Greeks in Sicily, about b.c. 750 to 700, 
preceded the rise of the Carthaginians to greatness ; and it 
must have been among the earliest objects of ambition 
of the last-named people, after they became powerful, to 
drive the Hellenes from the island. It Avould seem, how- 
ever, that no great expedition had been made prior to b.c. 
480. Till then Carthage had been content to hold the west- 
ern corner of the island only, and to repulse intruders into 
that region, like Dorieus. But in b.c. 480, when the expe- 
dition of Xerxes gave full occupation to the bulk of the 



PART II.] CARTHAGE. 99 

Greek nation, Carthage conceived that the time was come 
at which she might expect to attack the Greeks of Sicily 
with success, and to conquer them before they could receive 
succors from the mother country. Accordingly, a vast army 
was collected, and under Hamilcar, son of Mago, a great at- 
tack was made. But the victory of Gelo at Himera com- 
pletely frustrated the expedition. Hamilcar fell or slew 
himself. The invading army was withdrawn, and Carthage 
consented to conclude an ignominious peace. 

2. The check thus received induced the Carthaginians to 
suspend for a while their designs against the coveted island. 
Extension of Attention was turned to the consolidation of their 
the carthagi- African power : and under Hannibal, Hasdrubal, 

man domiu- -, a \ -, n ^r -.-. ^ 

ion in Africa, and bappho, ffrandsons of Mag^o and nephews of 

I5.O.4S0-409. TT -1 XT, X- T -1 ^ -1 T -I 

Hamilcar, the native Libyan tribes were reduced 
to more complete dependence, and Carthage was released 
from a tribute w^hich she had hitherto paid as an acknowl- 
edgment that the site on which she stood was Libyan 
ground. A contest was also carried on with the Greek set- 
tlement of Cyrene, which terminated to the advantage of 
Carthage. Anticipated danger from the excessive influence 
of the family of Mago was guarded against by the creation 
of the Great Council of Judges, before whom every general 
had to appear on his return from an expedition. 

3. It was seventy years after their first ignominious fail- 
ure when the Carthaginians once more invaded Sicily in 

force. Livited by Eo^esta to assist her ao^ainst 

Second luva- ^. "^ ^ ^ . n -t 

sion of Sicily, Selinus, they crossed over with a vast fleet and 
army, under the command of Hannibal, the grand- 
son of Hamilcar, b.c. 409, destroyed Selinus and Himera, 
defeated the Greeks in several battles, and returned home in 
triumph. This first success was followed by wars (1) with 
Dionysius L, tyrant of Syracuse ; (2) with Dionysius H. and 
Timoleon ; and (3) with Agathocles. 

War with Dionysius T., b.c. 405 to 368. Invasion of Sicily by Hanni- 
bal and Himilco. Capture of Agrigentum, Gela, and Camai-ina. Conven- 
tion with Dionysius, b.c. 405. Convention broken by Dionysius, b.c. 397. 
His triumpliant march. Camarina, Gela, Agrigentum, and Selinus recovered. 
Motya taken. Landing of Himilco, b.c. 396. Motya recovered. Messene 
taken. Victory of Mago off Catana. Siege of Syracuse. Pestilence, b.c. 
395. Flight of Himilco and destruction of his deserted army. His suicide. 
Mago sent to Sicily, b.c. 393. Peace made the year following. Attempt 



100 AFRICAN NATIONS. [book i. 

of Dionysius to expel the Carthaginians from Sicily^ b.c» 383, fails by his 
defeat at Croniiim, b.c. 382. Peace made on terms favorable to Carthage, 
lieiiewcd attempt of Dionysius, B.C. 868, again fails. 

War AviTH Dionysius II., b.c. 346 to 340. Attempt of Carthage to take 
advantage of internal troubles at Syracuse after the death of Dion. Arrange- 
ment made with Hicetas. Danger of S3Tacuse. Timoleon sent from Corinth 
to its relief. Mago and Hicetas besiege Syracuse, b.c. 344. Distrust of the 
former ; he suddenly retires. Timoleon attacks the Carthaginian towns, B.C. 
341. Great armament sent from Carthage under Hasdrubal and Hamilcar 
defeated by Timoleon at the Crimesus, b.c. 340. Another army sent under 
Cisco. Peace made on the old terms. 

War WITH Agathocles, b.c. 311 to 304, War begun by aggressions of 
Agathocles on Agrigentum. Victory of Hamilcar at tlie Himera, b c. 310, 
followed by the siege of Syracuse. Resolution of Agathocles to transfer the 
war into Africa. He lands and burns his ships ; is for some time successful, 
partly owing to the treachery of Bomilcar, but can not conquer Carthage. 
His son twice defeated during his absence in Africa, b.c. 305. On his re- 
turn, he too is defeated, and flieJ. Peace made b.c. 304. 

4. The result of these wars was not, on the Avhole, encour- 
aging. At the cost of several hundreds of thousands of 
Result of the iiien, of large fleets, and of an immense treasure, 
Sicilian wars. Carthage had succeeded in maintaining posses- 
sion of about one-third of Sicily, but had not advanced her 
boundary by a single mile. Her armies had generally been 
defeated, if they engaged their enemy upon any thing like 
even terms. She had found her generals decidedly inferior 
to those of the Greeks. Above all, she had learnt that she 
was vulnerable at home — that descents might be made on 
her own shores, and that her African subjects were not to 
be depended on. Still, she did not relinquish her object. 
After the death of Agathocles in b.c. 289, the Hellenic pow- 
er in Sicily rapidly declined. The Mamertines seized Mes- 
sana ; and Carthage, resuming an aggressive attitude, seem- 
ed on the point of obtaining all her desires. Agrigentum 
was once more taken, all the southern j^art of the island oc- 
cupied, and Syracuse itself threatened. But the landing of 
Pyrrhus at the invitation of Syracuse saved the city, and 
turned the fortune of war against Carthage, b.c. 279. His 
flight, two years later, did not restore matters to their for- 
mer condition. Carthage had contracted obligations towards 
Syracuse in the war against Pyrrhus ; and, moreover, a new 
contest was evidently impending. The great aggressive 
power of the West, Rome, was about to appear upon the 



PART II.] CAKTHAGE. lOi 

scene; and, to resist her, Carthage required the friendly co- 
ojseration of the Greeks. A treaty was consequently made 
with Hiero ; and Carthage paused, biding her time, and still 
hoping at no distant period to extend her domination over 
the entire island. 



BOOK II. 



HISTORY OF PERSIA FROM THE. ACCESSION OF CYRUS TO THE DE- 
STRUCTION OF THE EMPIRE BY ALEXANDER, FROM B.C. 558 TO 330. 

Sources. First in importance (so far as they extend) are the native 
sources, consisting chiefly of inscriptions on rocks and buildings, which haA'e 
been deciphered by the hibors of Grotefend, Lassen, Burnouf, Westergaard, 
and Sir H. Rawlinson. These inscriptions cover the period from Cyrus, 
B.C. 550, to Artaxerxes Ochus, B.C. 350, but ai*e unfortunately scanty, except- 
ing for the space of about seven years, from the death of Cambyses to the full 
establishment of Darius I. in his kingdom. Among Avorks on the inscriptions 
are the following : 

Rawlinson, Sir H., The Persian Cuneiform Inscription at JBehistun de- 
ciphered and translated, with plates representing the exact condition of the 
original. Published in the Journal of the Asiatic Society, vol. x. (London, 
1846-7), and followed by Copies and Translations of the Persian Cuneiform 
Inscriptions of Persepolis, Hamadan, and Van. 

Lassen, Prof., Die Alt-Persischen Keilinschriften von Persepolis, published 
in the Zeitschrift fur die Kunde des Morgenlandes, vol, vi. Bonn, 1836. • 

Burnouf, Memoire sur deux Inscriptions Cuneiformes, trouvees pres d'Ha- 
madan. Paris, 1836. 

Spiegel, Die Alt-Persischen Keilinschriften, 8vo ; Leipzig, 1862. A tran- 
script of the inscriptions in Roman characters, with a translation, a brief 
comment, and a valuable vocabulary. 

Another valuable but scanty source of ancient Persian history consists of 
the Jewish writers, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and the anonymous author of 
Esther, who Avere contempoi-ary with Persian kings, and lived under their 
sway. The book of Esther is especially important from tbe graphic repre- 
sentation whicli it gives us of the Persian court, and the habits and mode of 
life of the king. 

We should possess, however, but a very slight knowledge of the history of 
Ancient Persia were it not for the labors of the Greeks. Four Greek writers 
especially devoted a large share of their attention to the subject ; and of these 
two remain to us entire, of the third we possess by far the greater portion, 
Avhile the fourth exists only in an epitome. These writers are («) Herodo- 
tus, who traces the history of the empire from its foundation to the year b.c. 
479. His work is valuable, as he had travelled in Persia, and derived much 
of his information from Persian informants. But these informants were not 
iilways trustworthy, (h) Ctesias : he wrote a history of Persia from the 
accession of Cyrus to B.C. 398, and professed to have drawn the greater por- 
tion of his narrative from the Persian archives. But strong suspicions rest 



SECT. 1, 2.] PERSIA. 103 

upon his good faith. His work is lost, and our knowledge of it rests almost 
entirely on an epitome made by the Patriarch Photius, about a.d. 880. (c) 
Xenophon : his Cyropcedia is a historical romance, on which a, judicious 
criticism wili place very slight reliance ; but his Anabasis and Hellenica are 
of great value for the period and events of which they treat, (d) Diodorus : 
his Universal History is the chief authority that we possess for the later 
Persian history, from Cunaxa to the expedition of Alexander. Other Greek 
writers who throw a hght on portions of the history are — Tiiucydides, for 
the period between B.C. 479 and 410 ; Plutarch, Vitce Cimonis, Artaxerxis, 
et Alexandri ; and Arrian, Expeditio Alexandri Magni, for the closing 
struggle, B.C. 334 to 330. Something may be gathered from the Latin Avrit- 
ers, Justin and Q. Curtius ; but the latter, where he. differs from Arrian, 
is untrustworthy. 

The best modern Avorks on Persian History are the following : 

Brisson, De regio Persarum principatu. Paris, 1590. A valuable com- 
pilation. 

Heeren, Ideen, etc., vol. i. (see p. 18). 

Kaavlinson, G., Five Great Monarchies, \o\. iv. (see p. 19). 

Different opinions have been entertained as to the value of the modern Per- 
sian writers on the antiquities of their country. Some have seen in the poem 
of FiRDAUSi (the Shahnatneh) and in the Chronicle of Mirkhond, genuine 
history, a little embellished by romantic coloring and supernatural detail. 
But the best critics incline to regard the writings in question as pure romance, 
the events related as fictitious, and the personages as chiefly mythological. 

1. The Persians appear to have formed a part of a great 
Ariaii migration from the countries about the Oxus, which 
Oiiffiuofthe l>egan at a very remote time, but was not com- 
Persians. pleted till about B,c. 650. The line of migration 
was first w^estward, along the Elburz range into Armenia and 
Azerbijan, then south along Zagros, and finally south-east 
into Persia Proper. The chief who first set up an Arian 
monarchy in this last-named region seems to have been a 
certain Achoemenes (Hakhamanish), who probably ascended 
the throne about a century before Cyrus. 

2. The nation was composed of two classes of persons — 
the settled population, which lived in towns or villages, for 

Tribe« ^^^® most part cultivating the soil, and the pastoral 
tribes, whose habits were nomadic. The latter 
consisted of four distinct tribes— the Dai, the Mardi, the 
Dropici or Derbices, and the Sagartii ; while the former com- 
prised the six divisions of the Pasargadse, the Maraj^hii, the 
Maspii, the Panthialaei, the Derusissi, and the Germanii or 
Carmanians. Of these, the first three were superior; and a 
very marked precedency or pre-eminency attached to the 



104 PEllSIA. [book II. 

Pasargadfe. They formed a species of nobility, holding al- 
most all the high offices both in the army and at the court. 
The royal family of the Achaemenidse, or descendants of 
Achsemenes, belonged to this leading tribe. 

3. A line of native Persian kins^s held the throne from Achse- 
menes to Cyrus; but the sovereignty which they possessed 

f ^^'^^ '^^^' ^^ ^"^ ^'^^® "^ ^^^ times immediately pre- 
f^iibjection to- Ceding Cyrus, an independent dominion. Rela- 
tions of a feudal character bound Persia to Media ; 
and the Achsemenian princes, either from the first, or certain- 
ly from some time before Cyrus rebelled, acknowledged the 
Median monarch for their suzerain. Cyrus lived as a sort of 
hostage at the court of Astyages, and could not leave it with- 
out permission. Cambyses, his father, had the royal title, 
and, practically, governed Persia ; but he was subject to As- 
tyages, and probably paid him an annual tribute. 

4. The revolt of the Persians was not the consequence of 
their suflfering any grievous oppression ; nor did it even arise 
Causes of the ^om any wide-spread discontent or dissatisfaction 
revolt. with their condition. Its main cause was the am- 
bition of Cyrus. That prince had seen, as he grew up at Ec- 
batana, that the strength of the Medes was undermined by 
luxury, that their old warlike habits were laid aside, and 
that, in all the qualities which make the soldier, they were 
no match for his own countrymen. He had learnt to de- 
spise the faineant monarch who occupied the 

Its success , V T T T -. -I . 1 • IT 

and conse- Median throne. It occurred to hnn that it would 
queuces. ^^ ^^^^ ^^ make Persia an independent power; 

and this was probably all that he at first contemplated. But 
the fatal persistence of the Median monarch in attempts to 
reduce the rebels, and his capture in the second battle of 
Pasargadse, opened the way to greater changes ; and the Per- 
sian prince, rising to a level with the occasion, pushed his 
own country into the imperial position from which the suc- 
cess of his revolt had dislodged the Medes. 

Submission of the subjects of the Medes to Cyrus, b.c. 558. Rapid series 
of conquests. Defeat of Croesus in Cappadocia and capture of Sardis, B.C. 
554. Subjeotion of the Asiatic Greeks by Ilarpagus, B.C. 553. Conquest of 
the remote East — Hyrcania, Parthia, Bactria, Sacia, Chorasmia, Sogdiana, 
Aria, Drangiana, Arachosia, Sattagydia, Gandaria — about B.C. 553 to 540. 
Expedition against Babylon, commenced b.c. 530, terminates successfully, 
B.C. 538. Importance of the fall of Semitism. 



SECT. 5, G.] KEIGN OF CYKU8. 105 

5. Tlie warlike prince wlio thus conquered the Persian em- 
pire did little to organize it. Professing, probably, a purer 
Keio-uofc f'^^i''^! of Zoroastrianism than that which prevailed 
ius,°ii.G. 558- ill Media, where a mongrel religion had grown uj:) 

from the mixture of the old Arian creed with 
Scythic element-worship, he retained his own form of belief 
as the religion of the empire. Universal toleration w^as, liow- 
ever, established. The Jews, regarded with special favor as 
monotheists, were replaced in their proper country. Ecba- 
tana was kept as the capital, while Pasargadae became a sa- 
cred city, used for coronations and interments. The civiliza- 
tion of the Medes, their art, architecture, ceremonial, dress, 
manners, and to some extent their luxury, were adopted by 
the conquering people. The emj)loyment of letters in inscrip- 
tions on public nionuments began. No general system of 
administration was established. Some countries remained 
under tributary native kings ; others were placed under gov- 
ernors; in some the governmental functions were divided, 
and native officers shared the administration with Persians. 
The rate of tribute w^as not fixed. Cyrus left the work of 
consolidation and organization to his successors, content to 
have given them an empire on which to exercise their powers. 

Interest attaching to the Persian rehgion from its comparative pm-ity. 
Keligious symj^athy between the Jews and Persians. Primitive religion of 
the Persians contained in the Zendavesta, more especially its earlier portions, 
the Gdthas and the Vendidad. The attention of European scholars was first 
called to the Zendavesta by Anquetil du Perron, whose Zend-avesta, 
ouvrage de Zoroastre, traduit en Frangais sur Voriginal Zend, was published 
at Paris in 1771. This work, which, though valuable at the time, was full 
of faults, is now superseded by the editions of Westergaard (1852-4) and 
Spiegel (1851-8), and the German ti'anslation of the latter writer. The best 
comments on the Zendavesta are — 

BuRNOur, Eugene, Commentaire sur le Yagna. Paris, 1833 : 4to. 

Haug, Martin, Essays on the Sacred Language, Writings, and Religion 
of the Parsees. Bombay, 1862. 

Spiegel, F., Commentar iiber das Avesta. Leipzig, 1864. 

Short accounts of the Zoroastrian religion, drawn from the best sources, 
will be found in Dr. Pusey's Lectures on Daniel, lectures viii. and ix. , and in 
Rawlinson's Five Great Monarchies, vol. iii. ch. iv. 

6. The close of the reign of Cyrus is shrouded in some 
Lastcampaicrn obscurity. We do not know why he did not 



and death of cany out his designs against Egypt, nor what 
occupied him in the interval between b.c. 538 and 



106 PERSIA. [book ir. 

529. *We can not even say with any certainty against what 
enemy he was engaged when he lost his life. Herodotus 
and Ctesias are here irreconcilably at variance, and though 
the authority of the former is greater, the narrative of the 
latter is in this instance the more credible. Both writers, 
however, are agreed that the Persian king was engaged in 
chastising an enemy on his north-eastern frontier, when he 
received the wound from which he died. Probably he was 
endeavoring to strike terror into the nomadic hordes who 
liere bordered the empire, and so to secure his territories 
from their dreaded aggressions. If this was his aim, his 
enterprise was successful; for we hear of no invasion of Per- 
sia from the Turcoman country until after the time of Alex- 
ander. 

V. Cyrus left behind him two sons, Cambyses and Bardius, 
or (as the Greeks called him) Smerdis. To the former he 
Accession of ^^^^ ^^^ regal title and the greater portion of his 
Cambyses, dominions ; to the latter he secured the inherit- 
Death'of ancc of some large and important provinces. This 
braei IS. imprudent arrangement cost Smerdis his life, by 
rousing the jealousy of his brother, who very early in his 
reign caused him to be put to death secretly. 

8. The genius of Cambyses was warlike, like that of his 
father ; but he did not possess the same ability. Neverthe- 
Submission of ^^^^ ^^ added important provinces to the empire. 
Phoenicia aud First of all he procured the submission of Phoeni- 
questof cia and Cyprus, the great naval powers of West- 

gyp 5 e c. g^,^^ Asia, which had not been subject to Cyrus. 
lie then invaded Africa, b.c. 525, defeated Psammenitus in a 
pitched battle, took Memphis, conquered Egypt, received the 
submission of the neighboring Libyan tribes, and of the 
Greek towns of the Cyrenaica, and proceeded to form de- 
signs of remarkable grandeur. But these projects all mis- 
carried. The expedition against Carthage was stopped by 
the refusal of the Phoenicians to attack their own colony ; 
that against the oasis of Ammon ended in a frightful dis- 
aster. His own march against Ethiopia was arrested by the 
failure of provisions and water in the Nubian desert ; and 
the losses which he incurred by persisting too long in his at- 
tempt brought Egypt to the brink of rebellion. . The severe 
measures taken to repress this revolt were directed especial- 



SECT. 9-11.] REIGN OF DARIUS I. 107 

ly against the powerful caste of the priests, and had the ef- 
fect of thoroughly alienating the province, which thence- 
forth never ceased to detest and plot against its conquerors. 

9. The stay of Oambyses in Egyjot, imprudently prolong- 
ed, brought about a revolution at the Medo-Persian capital. 
Usur ationof ^ Magus, named Gomates, supported by his or- 
the pseudo- dcr, which was powerful in many parts of the 

Smerdis. Sui- . ^^ , n -, ^ 

cideofcam- empire, ventured to personate the dead Smerdis, 
yses,u.c.52^- ^^^^ seized the throne in his name. His claim 
was tacitly acknowledged. Cambyses, when the news reach- 
ed him in Syria on his march homeward, despairing of being 
able to make head against the imj^ostor, committed suicide 
-^B.c. 522 — after having reigned eight years. 

The Magian revolution was religious rather than political. The subject is 
still to some extent obscure 5 but it seems certain that Magianisra and Zoro- 
astrianism were at this time two distinct and opposed systems. The pre- 
tender was a Magus, born in the eastern part of Persia; and the object of 
the revolution was to make Magianism the State religion. Its ill success re- 
established the pure religion of Zoroaster. 

10. To conciliate his subjects, the pseudo-Smerdis began 
his reign by a three years' remission of tribute, and an ex- 
Eeic^nofthe ^"^P^ion of the Conquered nations from military 
pseudo-Smer- service for the like space. At the same time, he 

adopted an extreme system of seclusion, in the 
hope that his imposture might escape detection, never quit- 
ting the palace, and allowing no communication between his 
wives and their relations. But the truth gradually oozed 
out. His religious reforms were startling in an Achaemenian 
prince. His seclusion was excessive and suspicious. Doubts 
began to be entertained, and secret messages between the 
great Persian nobles and some of the palace inmates convert- 
ed these doubts into certainty. Darius, the son of Hystas- 
pes, and probably heir-presumptive to the crown, headed an 
insurrection, and the impostor was slain after he had reigned 
eight months. 

Institution of the Magophonia, which continued to be observed down to 
the time of Artaxerxes Mnemon. Indication presented by this custom of a 
time when the Magi were not the Persian priests. 

11. Darius I., who ascended the throne in January, e.c. 
521, and held it for nearly thirty-six years, was the greatest 
of the Persian monarchs. He was at once a conqueror and 



108 PERSIA. [hook ii. 

^ an administrator. Durinoj the earlier part of his 
Accession of ., . . '^ 

Darins I., i>.c. reign he was engaged in a series of struggles 

of revolts, U.O. against rebellions, which broke out in almost all 
521-515. parts of the empire. Susiana, Babylonia, Persia 

Proper, Media, Assyria, Armenia, Ilyrcania, Parthia, Margi- 
ana, Sagartia, and Sacia successively revolted. The satraps 
in Egypt and Asia Minor acted as though independent of his 
authority. The empire was shaken to its centre, and threat- 
ened to fall to pieces. But the military talent and prudence 
of the legitimate monarch prevailed. Within the space of 
six years the rebellions were all put dow^n, the pretenders 
executed, and tranquillity generally restored throughout the 
disturbed provinces. 

12. The evils of disorganization, which had thus manifest- 
ed themselves so conspicuously, may have led Darius to turn 
Organization his thoughts towards a remedy. At any rate, to 
of the empu-e. j^-j^^ belongs the credit of having given to the 
Persian empire that peculiar organization and arrangement 
which maintained it in a fairly flourishing condition for 
nearly two centuries. He divided the whole empire into 
twenty (?) governments, called " satrapies," and established 
everywhere a uniform and somewhat complicated govern- 
mental system. Native tributary kings were swept away; 
and, in lieu of them, a single Persian oflicial held in each 
province the supreme civil authority. A standing army of 
Medo-Persians, dispersed throughout the empire, supported 
the civil power, maintained tranquillity, and was ready to re- 
sist the attacks of foreigners. A fixed rate of tribute took 
the place of arbitrary exactions. " Royal roads " were es- 
tablished, and a system of posts arranged, whereby the court 
received rapid intelligence of all that occurred in the provin- 
ces, and promptly communicated its OAvn commands to the 
remotest corners of the Persian territory. 

Peculiarities or the Persian Governmental System, (a) Limits 
of satrapies not always geographic, cognate tribes being grouped together, 
even though locally separate, (b) Elaborate system of checks established. 
The satrap properly only the civil governor. Military power wielded by the 
commandants and commanders of garrisons. Institution of royal secretaries, 
attached to the courts of the satraps as "King's Eyes" and "Ears" — with 
the right and duty of communicating directly with the CroAvn by the public 
post, and of keeping the king acquainted with all that occurred in their re- 
spective districts, (c) Visitation of provinces suddenly and without notice 



SECT. 13,14.] GOVERNMENTAL SYSTEM. 109 

1)3^ royal commissioners, or by the king in person ; overhauling of the ad- 
ministration and public hearing of complaints, (d) Institution of royal 
judges, perhaps confined to Persia Proper, but important as indicating the 
separation, in some cases at any rate, of judicial from administrative func- 
tions, (e) Fixity of the tribute levied by the State on the provinces, and di- 
vision of it into— 1, a money payment ; and 2, a payment in kind ; but in- 
definite power of exaction possessed by the satraps. Finlher revenue drawn 
by the State from — 1. A water-rate ; 2. Fisheries and tl^Uke ; and 3. Pres- 
ents. (/; Coinage of money, both gold and silver, on a large scale, and gen- 
eral circulation of both kinds of coin through the empire. Purity of the gold 
coinage extraordinary. 

Weak points of the system, and tendency to gradual comiption. (a) Sys- 
tem of checks tends to weaken authority, and is found inconvenient in times 
of danger. Practice of uniting offices, especially those of satrap and com- 
mandant, begins. The great increase of power thus obtained by the satraps 
leads naturally to formidable revolts. (6) Practical discontinuance of in- 
spections by royal commissioners removes an important check upon misgov- 
erament. (c) A tendency to make offices hereditary shows itself; and this 
limits the power of the Crown, and helps forward the process of disintegi-a- 
tion. Detachment, partial or complete, of provinces from the emphe. Prov- 
inces once lost not often recovered. 

13. The military system, established or inherited by Dari- 
us, had for its object to combine the maximum of efficiency 
Military sys- against a foreign enemy Avith the minimum of 
t«™- danger from internal disaffection. The regular 

p'ofession of arms was confined to the dominant race — or to 
that race and a few others of closely kindred origin — and a 
standing army, thus composed and amounting to several 
hundreds of thousands, maintained order throughout the 
Great King's dominions, and conducted the smaller and less 
important expeditions. But when danger threatened, or a 
great expedition was to be undertaken, the whole empire 
was laid under contribution; each one of the subject nations 
Avas required to send its quota; and in this way armies were 
collected which sometimes exceeded a million of men. In 
the later times, mercenaries were largely employed, not only 
in expeditions, but as a portion of the standing army. 

Internal organization of the native standing army on a decimal system with 
six grades of officers. Three divisions of the service — inf^mtry, cavalry, and 
chariots ; but the last rarely used. Importance of the cavalry, Avhich are 
either heavily armed, or exceedingly active and light. General goodness of 
the Persian troops, but worthlessness of the provincial levies. 

14. The navy of the Persians was drawn entirely from the 
conquered nations. Phoenicia, Egypt, Cyprus, Cilicia, Asiatic 



110 PERSIA. [book II. 

Greece, and other of the maritime countries sul> 
^^^' ject to Persia, furnished contingents of ships and 
crews according to their relative strength ; and fleets were 
thus collected of above a thousand vessels. The ship of 
Avar ordinarily employed was the trireme ; but lesser vessels 
were also used occasionally. The armed force on board the 
ships (e-mfjaraL or "marines") was Medo-Persian, either whol- 
ly or predominantly ; and the fleets were usually placed un- 
der a Persian or Median commander. 

15. The great king to whom Persia owed her civil, and 
(probably in part) her military organization, was not dis- 
ludiauexpe- P^^^^ t<D allow the w^arlike qualities of his sub- 
ditiouofDa- jects to rust for want of exercise. Shortly after 

the revolts had been put down, Darius I, by him- 
self or by his generals, commenced and carried out a series 
of military expeditions of first-rate importance. The earliest 
of these was directed against Western India, or the regions 
now known as the Punjab and Scinde. After exploring the 
country by means of boats, which navigated the Indus from 
Attock to the sea, he led or sent a body of troops into the 
region, and rapidly reduced it to subjection. A valuable 
gold-tract was thus added to the empire, and the revenue was 
augmented by about one-third. Commerce also received an 
impulse from the opening of the Indian market to Persian 
traders, who thenceforth kept up a regular communication 
with the tribes bordei-ing the Indus by coasting vessels 
which started from the Persian Gulf 

16. The next great expedition was in the most directly 
opposite direction. It was undertaken against the numerous 
His invasion ^"^^ Warlike Scythian nation which possessed the 
abSL^J^'W ^^^* pl.iins of Southern Russia, extending be- 
tween the Don and the Danube, the region now 

generally known as the Ukraine. The object of this expe- 
dition was not conquest, but the exhibition of the Persian 
military strength, the sight of which was calculated to 
strike terror into the Scythic hordes, and to prevent them 
from venturing to invade the territory of so powerful a 
neighbor. The fp^eat Persian kings, like the great Roman 
emperors, caused their own frontiers to be respected by 
overstepping them, and ravaging with fire and sword the 
countries of the fierce Northern barbarians. 



SECT. 17-19.] REIGN OF DAKIUS I. HI 

Date of the expedition, probably about B.C. 508. Passage of the Bosphorus 
by a bridge of boats. Army marches through Tlirace, while the fleet proceeds 
to bridge tiie Danube. Submission of the maritime Thracians. Resistance 
and conquest of the Getoe. Passage of the Danube and invasion of Scythia. 
Unresisted march of Darius through the country. His troops burn the in- 
land tov/n of Gelonus. He retires without loss, re-crosses the Danube, and 
returns to Asia in triumph. 

17. The sequel of the Scythian expedition was the firm 
establishment of the Persian power on the European side of 
Thrace awd *^^^ straits, and the rapid extension of it over the 
Pa^ouiacon- parts of Thrace borderinor on the ^sfean, over 

quered. Mace- ^ t • • n ^ • t 

don submits, the adjoining country oi Pseonia, and even over 
' ' the still more remote Macedonia. The Persian 
dominion now reached from the Indian desert to the borders 
of Thessaly, and from the Caucasus to Ethiopia. 

18. Simultaneously with the Scythic expedition, Aryandcs, 
the satrap of Egypt, marched against the Greek town of 
Barca, in Africa, to avenge the murder of a king who was a 
„ , , Persian tributary. Barca was taken, and its in- 

Barca punish- , , . ;' , * . i i -, •-,- 

ed by Aryan- habitants transplanted to Asia; but the hostility 
of the semi-independent nomades was aroused, and 
the army on its return suffered no inconsiderable losses. 

19. Not long afterwards the ambitious designs of Darius 
were violently interrupted by a revolt second in importance 
Revolt of to scarcely any of those which had occupied his 
Greeks,^£o. early years. The Greeks of Asia, provoked by 
^"1- the support which Darius lent to their tyrants, 
and perhaps rendered sensible of their power by the circum- 
stances of the Scythic campaign, broke out into general re- 
bellion at the instigation of Aristagoras of Miletus, murdered 
or expelled their tyrants, and defied the power of Persia. 
Two states of European Greece, Athens and Eretria, joined 
Burning of the rebels. Bold counsels prevailed, and an at- 
^"and^battie ^^^^ was made on the satrapial capital, Sardis. 
ofEphesus. Unfortunately, the capture of the city was fol- 
lowed by its accidental conflagration ; and the small knot of 
invaders, forced to retreat, were overtaken and defeated in 
the battle of Ephesus, whereupon the two European allies 
deserted the falling cause. On the other hand, numerous 
states, both European and Asiatic, excited by the news of 
the fall of Sardis, asserted indei^endence ; and the flames of 
rebellion were lighted along the entire Asiatic coast from the 



112 PERSIA. [BOOK II. 

Sea of Marmora to the Gulf of Issus. The Ionian, JEolic, and 
Hellespontine Greeks, the Carians and Caunians of the south- 
western corner of the penmsula, and the Cyprians, both 
Greek and native, made common cause ; several battles were 
fouo-ht with varying success ; but at last the power of Per- 
BattieofLade, sia prevailed. The confederate fleet suffered de- 
B.o. 494. f(,^^ ij^ ^]^Q battle of Lade, and soon afterwards 

Miletus was taken. The rebellious states were punished 
with great severity, and the authority of Darius was once 
more firmly established in all the revolted countries. 

Imprudent conduct of Atfiens at this juncture. Unless she was prepared 
to put forth all her strength, and give effectual aid to the insurrection, she 
had far hetter have taken no share in it. Would not it, however, have been 
true wisdom on her part to have made every effort in order to transfer the 
Avar, with which she was already threatened, into the enemy's country ? 

20. The honor of the Great King required that immediate 
vengeance should be taken on the bold foreigners who had 
Fust ex edi- intermeddled between him and his subjects. But, 
tion against even apart from this, an expedition asjainst Greece 

CrrGGCG iiiiclGr 

Mardonins was Certain, and could only be a question of time. 
The exploring voyage of Democedes, about b.c. 
510, shows that even before the Scythian campaign an attack 
on this quarter was intended. An expedition was therefore 
fitted out, in b.c. 493, under Mardonius, which took the coast- 
line through Thrace and Macedonia. A storm at Athos, how- 
ever, shattered the fleet ; and the land-army was crippled by 
a night attack of the Brygi. Mardonius returned home 
without effecting his purpose ; but his expedition was not 
wholly fruitless. His fleet reduced Thasos; and his army 
forced the Macedonians to exchange their positions of semi- 
independence for complete subjection to Persia. 

21. The failure of Mardonius was followed within two 
years by the second great expedition against Greece — the 
Second expe- ^^'^^ whicli reached it — that conducted by Datis. 
ditiou under Datis proceeded by sea, crossing through the Cy- 

Patis,i{.c.490. -^-l T,,,. "^r. -r? -i-i 

Battle of Mar- clades, and lalhng first upon Eretria, which was 
besieged, and taken by treachery. A landing was 
then made at Marathon ; but the defeat of the Persian host 
by Miltiades, and his rapid march to Athens immediately 
after the victory, frustrated the expedition, disappointing 
alike the commander and the Athenian ex-tyrant, Hippias, 
who had accompanied it. 



SECT. 22, 28.] IIEIGN OF DARIUS I. 1 1 ; 

Importance of the victory at Marathon. First great check received by ihc 
Persians. The defeat showed how utterly powerless were the vast masses of 
an Oriental army against the disciplined valor of the Greeks. The whole 
history of the contest between Greece and Persia is but a repetition of this 
early lesson. 

22. Undismayed by his two failures, Darius commenced 
prej^arations for a third attack, and would probably have 
Third expedi- proceeded in person against Athens, had not the 
i^°i)S?f i-evolt of Egypt first (c.c. 487), and then his own 
death, 13.0. 4S6. (^le^th (b.c.^486), intervened. Darius died after 
nominating as his successor, not his eldest son, Artobazanes, 
but the eldest of his sons by Atossa, daughter of Cyrus — a 
prince who had tints the advantage of having in his veins 
the blood of the great founder of the empire. 

23. Darius probably died at Susa; but he was buried in 
the vicinity of Persepolis, where he had prepared himself 
Great v/orks ^^^ elaborate rock tomb, adorned with sculptures 
of nanus I. r^jj(^| bearing a long inscription — all which remain 
to the present day. The great palace of Persepolis, in all its 
extent and grandeur, was his conception, if not altogether 
his work ; as was also the equally magnificent structure at 
Susa, which Avas the ordinary royal residence from his time. 
lie likewise set up the great rock inscription at Behistun 
(Bagistan), the most valuable of all the Persian monumental 
remains. Other memorials of his reign have been found, or 
are known to have existed, at Ecbatana, at Byzantium, in 
Thrace, and in Egypt. In the last-named country he re- 
opened the great canal betw^een the Nile and the Red Sea, 
which the Ramessides had originally cut, and the Psamatiks 
had vainly endeavored to re-establish. 

The best representations of the magnificent buildings at Persepolis Avill be 
found in the costly work of MM. Flandin and Coste, entitled Voyage en 
Perse, 6 a'oIs., large folio. Paris, 1845-00, published by the French Gov. 
ernment. Nearly equal to this is a production of private enterprise, the 
work of the Baron Texier, called Description cle Vjirmenie, de la Perse, et 
de la Mesojwtamie, 2 vols., folio. Paris, 1842-52. 

Representations on a smaller scale, accompanied with 
much ingenious comment, Avill be found in the following 
works : 

Fergusson, James, Palaces of Nineveh and Persepolis restored ; 8vo. 
London, 1851 ; and History of Architecture, a-o1. i. London, 1865, et seqq. 



^ 



114 PERSIA. [ijooK II. 

Students may also consult the chapter on "Persian Arcliitecture, " in Raw- 
linson's Five Great Monarchies, vol. iv. ch. v., and the account of Persepo- 
lis in Vaux's Nineveh and Persepolis ; 8vo. London, 1851. 

The only authentic account yet given of the ruins of Susa 
is contained in 

LoFTUS, W. K., Travels and Researches in Chaldcea and Susiana ; 8vo. 
London, 1857. 

24. Xerxes I., who succeeded Darius, B.C. 486, commenced 
his reign by the reduction of Egypt, b.c. 485, which he in- 
Eeicru of trusted to his brother, Achgemenes. He then pro- 
XerxesL, B.o. vokcd and chastised a rebellion of the Babvloni- 

48G-4G5, . , . , . -^ . , , - -, / , . 

ans, enriclnng himseli with the plunder of tlieir 
temples. After this he turned his attention to the invasion 
of Greece. 

25. Too much weight has probably been assigned to the 
cabals and intrigues of the Persian nobles, and the Greek 
Great expedi- refugees at Xerxes's court. Until failure checked 
Grcec|^i"a ^^^^ military aspirations of the nation, a Persian 
^^' prince was almost under the necessity of under- 
taking some great conquest ; and there was at this time no 
direction in which an expedition could so readily be under- 
taken as towards the west. Elsewhere high mountains, 
broad seas, or barren deserts skirted the empire — here only 
did Persian territory adjoin on a fruitful, well-watered, and 
pleasant region. The attempt to reduce Greece was the 
natural sequel to the conquests of Egypt, India, Thrace, and 
Macedon. 

Details of the Expedition. Careful preparation for the space of four 
years, u.c. 484 to 481. Immense host collected. Question of its numbers. 
Excellent commissariat arrangements. Large and well-appointed fleet. 
March of the expedition in three columns along the coast, u.c. 480. Pas- 
sage of the Hellespont on a double bridge of boats. Grand review at Doris- 
cus. Advance through Thessaly unresisted. Fleet passes through canal of 
Athos. First disaster — loss of 400 ships by a storm off Cape Sepias. First 
encounter of land forces at Thermopylae. Failure of the direct attack. Pass 
turned, and its defenders all slain. Sea-fights about the same time off Arte- 
misium with indecisive result. Second disaster — loss of 200 ships off the 
coast of Euboea. Advance through Phocis and Boeotia. Force detached 
against Delphi fails to take it. Invasion of Attica ; Athens taken and burnt. 
Greneral alarm, Greek naval force on the point of breaking up, is prevented 
by Themistocles, who brings about the battle of Salamis (Sept. 23, B.C. 480), 
which completes the destruction of the Persian fleet. Retreat of Xerxes. A 
picked Persian army under Mardonius winters in Thessaly, and resumes of- 



SECT. 2G, 27.] KEIGN OF XERXES I. 115 

fensive operations in the spring, n.c. 479. Attica re-occupied. Negotia- 
tioiis opened with Argos. Sadden resolve of Sparta to take the oftensive ; 
large army gathered at the isthmus enters Attica. Retirement of Mardoni- 
us into Boeotia. Battle of Plataja, Sept. 25, b.c. 479, and complete destruc- 
tion of the Persian host. Persians never again invade European Greece. 
Last remnant of the Persian fleet attacked by Leotychides at Mycale'. Pro- 
tecting land force defeated, and ships burnt. 



26. It was now the turn of the Greeks to retaliate on their 
prostrate foe. First under the lead of Sparta and then un- 
der that of Athens they freed the islands of the 

Aggressive . ^ 

attitude as- ^crean from the Persian yoke, expelled the Per- 

suraed by the . ^ . „ •' ' ^ 

Greeks. Bat- siau garnsons irom iLurope, and even ravaged 
ry^niedon, B.^o. the Asiatic coast and made descents on it at 
*^^* their pleasure. For twelve years no Persian fleet 

ventured to dispute with them the sovereignty of the seas ; 
and when at last, in b.c. 466, a naval force was collected to 
protect Cilicia and Cyprus, it was defeated and destroyed 
by Cimon at the Eurymedon. 

27. Soon after this Xerxes's reign came to an end. This 
weak prince, after the failure of his grand expedition, desist- 
Weakcharac ^^ fi'om all military enterprise. No doubt his 
ter of Xerxes, empire was ojreatly iniured and exhausted by its 

Corruption of , ^ • ^i *^ . *^ i • i ^ 

the court un- losscs in tlic Cjrreciaii war, and a period oi repose 
^vas absolutely necessary ; but it would seem to 
have been natural temperament, as much as prudence, that 
caused the unwarlike monarch to rest content under his dis- 
comfiture, and to make no effort to wipe out its disgrace. 
Xerxes, on his return to Asia, found consolation for his mili- 
tary failure in the delights of the seraglio, and ceased to 
trouble himself much about affairs of State. He was satis- 
fied to check the further progress of the Greeks by corrupt- 
ing their cleverest statesmen ; and, submitting himself to the 
government of women and eunuchs, lost all manliness of 
character. His own indulgence in illicit amours caused ni- 
olence and bloodshed in his family, and his example encour- 
aged a similar profligacy in others. The bloody and licen- 
tious deeds which stain the Avhole of the later Persian histo- 
ry commence with Xerxes, who suffered the natural penalty 
„. , of his follies and his crimes when, after reigjnino: 

His murder. ^ ^ , t t i i • ^ 

twenty years, he was murdered by the captain oi 
his guard, Artabanus, and Aspamitres, his chamberlain. 



IIG PEUSIA. [book II. 

Probable identity of Xerxes -with the Ahasuerus of Esther. The name 
Ahasuerus is the natural Semitic equivalent of the Arian Khshayarsha or 
Xerxes. Similarity of character. Agreement of the dates. Esther, how- 
ever, can not be Amestris, if v^e accept the stories which Herodotus tells of 
that princess. 

28. Artabanus placed on tiie throne the youngest son of 
Xerxes, Artaxerxes I., called by the Greeks Macrochei}\ or 

" the Lono-handed." The eldest son, Darius, ac- 

Keigu of Ar- ^ i . ^ i • r. i , • • 

taxerxes I. cuscd by Artabanus of his fathers assassination, 
his first year, Avas executed ; the second, Hystaspes, who was 
B.0.4G5. satrap of Bactria, claimed the crown; and, at- 

tempting to enforce his claim, was defeated and slain in bat- 
tle. About the same time the crimes of Artabanus were 
discovered, and he was put to death. 

29. Artaxerxes then reigned quietly for nearly forty years. 
He was a mild prince, possessed of several good qualities ; 
,, ,, ^ but the weakness of his character caused a rapid 

lleVOltof -,,.<., . -. 1 . rrii 

Egypt, i!.c. declension oi the empire under his sway. Ihe 
pressed, 15.0. rcvolt of Egyj^t was indeed suppressed after a 
^^^* while through the vigorous measures of the sa- 

trap of Syria, Megabyzus ; and the Athenians, who had fo- 
mented it, were j^unished by the complete destruction of 
their fleet, and the loss of almost all their men. But the 
cruelty and perfidy shown in the execution of the captured 
Inarus must have increased Egyptian disaffection, while at 
the same time it disgusted Megabyzus and the better class 
of Persians, and became the cause of fresh misfortunes. 

Revolt breaks out under Inarus, king of the Libyans, assisted by Am^Ttaus, 
an Egyptian, B.C. 4G0. Battle of Papremis ; Acha^menes defeated and slain. 
Persians shut up in Memphis, Aid of Athens asked, and 200 ships sent. 
Memphis taken, except the citadel (White-castle). Persian army enters 
Egypt under Megabyzus, Defeat of Inarus and relief of Memjjhis, De- 
struction of the Athenian squadron and capture of Inarus, b.c, 455. Amyr- 
taeus maintains himself for six years more in the Delta, b,c. 455 to 449, 

30. Bent on recovering her prestige, Athens, in b.c. 449, 
dispatched a fleet to the Levant, under Cimon, Avhich sailed 
Battle of Cy- to Cyprus and laid siege to Citium. There Ci- 
Se^ofCai- "^^^^ died; but the fleet which had been under 
lias, u.c. 449. i^jg orders attacked and completely defeated a 
large Persian armament off Salamis, besides detaching a 
squadron to assist Amyrtseus, who still held out in the Delta. 



SECT. 31-34.] REIGN OF ARTAXERXES. 11 V 

Persia, dreading the loss of Cyprus and Egypt, consented to 
an inglorious peace. The independence of the Asiatic Greeks 
was recognized. Persia undertook not to visit with fleet or 
army the coasts of Western Asia Minor, and Athens agreed 
to abstain from attacks on Cyprus and Egypt. The Greek 
cities ceded by this treaty — the " peace of Callias " — to the 
Athenian confederacy included all those from the mouth of 
the Hellespont to Phaselis in Lycia, but did not include the 
cities on the shores of the Black Sea. 

31. Scarcely less damaging to Persia was the revolt of 
Megabyzus, which followed. This powerful noble, disgusted 
„ „ ^,, at the treatment of Inarus, which was contrary 

Revolt of Me- _ , ^ ^ _ . ' -, ,,. . r, • 

gabyzus, ii.o. to his pledged word, excited a rebellion m Syria, 
and so alarmed Artaxerxes that he was allowed 
to dictate the terms on which he would consent to be rec- 
onciled to his sovereign. An example was thus set of suc- 
cessful rebellion on the part of a satrap, Avhich could not but 
have disastrous consequences. Ther prestige of the central 
government was weakened ; and provincial governors were 
tempted to throw off their allegiance on any fair occasion 
that offered itself; since, if successful, they had nothing to 
fear, and in any case they might look for pardon. 

32. The disorders of the court continued, and, indeed, in- 
creased, under Artaxerxes I, Avho allowed his mother Ames- 

tris, and his sister Amytis, who was married to 

Deitli of Arta- •/ ' 

xerxes L, b.o. Megabyzus, to indulge freely the cruelty and li- 
^^^' centiousness of th'eir dispositions. Artaxerxes 

died B.C. 425, and left his crown to his only legitimate son, 
Xerxes 11. 

33. Revolutions in the government now succeeded each 
other with great rapidity. Xerxes II., after reigning forty- 
five davs, was assassinated by his half-brother, 

HeignsofXer- ^ ,. "^ ' o t -n v .- I- 

xes II. aud Secydianus or Sogdianus, an illegitimate son ot 
secydiauus. ^j-taxerxes, who seized the throne, but was mur- 
dered in his turn, after a reign of six months and a half, by 
another brother, Ochus. 

34. Ochus, on ascending the throne, took the name of Dari- 
us, and is known in history as Darius Nothus. He was mar- 
ried to Parysatis, his aunt, a daughter of Xerxes I., and 
reigned nineteen years, B.C. 424 to 405, under her tutelage. 
His reign, though checkered with >some gleams of sunshine. 



118 PERSIA. [hook II. 

Accession of was Oil the wliole disastrous. Kevolt succeeded 
Sl^^Rapid ^* to revolt ; and, though most of the insurrectioiis 
state"^ Re-^^ ^^^'^ quellcd, it was at the cost of what remained 
volts of sa- of Persian honor and self-respect. Corruption 
414. ' was used instead of force against the rebellious 

armies ; and the pledges freely given to the leaders in order 
to procure their submission were systematically disregarded. 
Arsites, the king's brother, his fellow-conspirator, a brother 
of Megabyzus, and Pissuthnes, the satrap of Lydia, were suc- 
cessively entrapped in this way, and suffered instant execu- 
tion. So low had the feeling of honor sunk, that Pissuthnes's 
captor, Tissaphernes, instead of showing indignation, like 
Megabyzus (see § 31), accepted the satrapy of his victim, 
and thus made himself a participant in his sovereign's perfidy. 

35. Still more dangerous to the State, if less disgraceful, 
A\ere the practices Avhich now arose of uniting commonly 
itciaxation of the offices of satrap and commander of the forces, 
authority. ^^^^ ^f comiiritting to a single governor two, or 
even three, satrapies. The authority of the Crown was re- 
laxed ; satraps became practically uncontrolled ; their law- 
less acts were Avinked at or condoned ; and their govern- 
ments tended more and more to become hereditary fiefs — 
the first step, in empires like the Persian, to disintegration. 

36. The revolts of satraps were followed by national out- 
breaks, which, though sometimes quelled, were in other in- 
Nationaiout- stances succcssful. Ill B.C. 408, the Medes, who 
tem^^t^of the ^^^^ patiently acquiesced in Persian rule for more 
Medes, B.C. than a century, made an effort to shake off the 
of Egypt, ii.c, yoke, but w^ere defeated and reduced to subjec- 
'*"^' tion. Three years later, b.c. 405, Egypt once 
more rebelled, under Nepherites, and succeeded in establish- 
ing its independence. (See Book I., Part II., § 23.) The Per- 
sians were expelled from Africa, and a native prince seated 
himself on the throne of the Pharaohs. 

37. It was some compensation for this loss, and perhaps 
for others towards the north and north-east of the empire, 
Recovery of that in Asia Minor the authority of the Great 
tiuentai cities' King was oiice more established over the Greek 
coiSqueAJe cities. It was the Peloponnesian War, rather 
poSfeJali^' *^^^'^ *^^® peace of Callias, which had prevented 
War,B.o.4i2. any collision between the great powers of Europe 



SECT. 38, 39.] KEIGN OF DAKIUS NUTHUS. ] 19 

and Asia for thirty-seven years. Botli Athens and Sparta 
had their hands full ; and though it might have been expect- 
ed that Persia would have at once taken advantage of the 
quarrel to reclaim at least her lost continental dominion, yet 
she seems to have refrained, through moderation or fear, un- 
til the Athenian disasters in Sicily encouraged her to make 
an effort. She then invited the Spartans to Asia, and by 
the treaties which she concluded with them, and the aid 
which she gave them, re-acquired without a struggle all the 
Greek cities of the coast. It was her policy, however, not 
to depress Athens too much— a policy which was steadily 
pursued, till the personal ambition of the younger Cyrus 
caused a departure from the line dictated by prudence. 

Satraps of Asia Minor required to collect the tribute of the Greek cities, 
B.C. 413. Tissaphernes and Pharnabazus invite the Spartans to Asia, First 
treaty made by Sparta Avitli Tissaphernes, b.c. 412. Second and third treaty 
in the same year. By the last all Asia expressly ceded to the king. Tissa- 
phernes helps the Spartans, but cautiously. In disgust they quit him and 
accept the invitation of Pharnabazus. Kivalry of the satraps injurious to 
Persia. Pharnabazus, however, pursues the same policy as Tissaphernes, 
only more clumsily, till Cyrus appears upon the scene, b.c. 407, and, being 
anxious to obtain effectual aid from the Spartans, embraces their side of the 
quarrel heartily, and enables Lysander to bring the war to an end. 

38. The progress of corruption at court kept pace with 
the general decline which may be traced in all parts of the 
Corrnptionof empire. The power of the eunuchs increased, 
the court. ^^^^ ^j^gy began to aspire, not only to govern the 
monarch, but actually to seat themselves upon the throne. 
Female influence more and more directed the general course 
of affairs ; and the vices of conscious weakness, perfidy and 
barbarity, came to be looked upon as the mainstays* of gov- 
ernment. 

39. Darius Nothus died b.c. 405, and was succeeded by 
his eldest son, Arsaces, who on his accession took the name 
Reign of Ar- ^^ Artaxerxes. Artaxerxes II., called by the 
I'^rioSleJ'' ^^'^^^s 3fnemon on account of the excellence of 

his memory, had from the very first a rival in his 
brother Cyrus. Parysatis had endeavored to gain the king- 
dom for her younger son, while the succession was still open ; 
and when her efforts failed, and Artaxerxes was named to 
succeed his father, she encouraged Cyrus to vindicate his 



120 PERSIA. ■ [nuoic u. 

claim by arms. It would undoubtedly have been advanta- 
geous to Persia that the stronger-minded of the two brothers 
Attempt of should have been victor in the struggle ; but the 
Cyrus. Battle fortune of war decided otherwise. Cyrus fell at 

of Ctmaxa, , . . . *' , 

ji.c.4oi. Cunaxa, a victnn to his own impetuosity; and 

Artaxerxes 11. obtained undisputed possession of the throne, 
which he held for above forty years. 

March of Cyrus from Sarclis in the spring of b.c. 401. Passage of the Eu- 
phrates, about July. Battleof Cunaxa, about September. Treacherous mas- 
A sacre of the generals. Return of the Ten Thousand under Xenophon during 
\ the winter and the ensuing spring, B.C. 401 to 400. 

40. The expedition of Cyrus produced a complete change 
. in the relations between Persia and Sparta. Sparta had 

War between given Cyrus important assistance, and thereby ir- 
PersiaB^^SQQ I'emediably oifended the Persian monarch. The 
-394. result of the expedition encouraged her to precip- 

itate the rupture which she had provoked. Having secured 
the services of the Ten Thousand, she attacked the Persians 
in Asia Minor ; and her troops, under Thimbron, Dercyllidas, 
and Agesilatis, made the Persians tremble for their Asiatic 
dominion. Wisely resolving to find her enemy employment 
at home, Persia brought about a league between the chief of 
the secondary powers of Greece — Argos, Thebes, Athens, and 
Corinth — supplying them with the sinews of war, and con- 
tributing a contingent of ships, which at once turned the 
scale, and by the battle of Cnidus, b.c. 394, gave the mastery 
of the sea to the confederates. Agesilatis was recalled to Eu- 
rope, and Sparta found herself so joressed that she was glad 
to agree to the peace known as that of Antalci- 
tnicidas, b.c. das, whereby the Greeks of Europe generally re- 
linquished to Persia their Asiatic brethren, and 
allowed the Great King to assume the part of authoritative 
arbiter in the Grecian quarrels, b.c. 387. 

41. Glorious as the peace of Antalcidas was for Persia, and 
satisfactory as it must have been to her to see her most for- 
RevoitofEva- uiidable enemies engaged in internecine conflict 
f^i^who^'ub- ^1^6 with another, yet the internal condition of the 
terms^B^o empire showed no signs of improvement. The 
379. ' revolt of Evagoras, Greek tyrant of Salamis in 
Cyprus, was with difficulty put down, after a long and doubt- 
ful struggle, B.C. 391 to 379, in which disaffection was exhib- 



SECT. 42-44.] REIGN OF ARTAXEKXES MNEMON. 121 

ited by the Phoenicians, the Cilicians, the Carians, and the 
Iduniiean Arabs. The terms made with Evagoras were a 
confession of weakness, since lie retained his sovereignty, and 
merely consented to pay the Persian king an annual tribute. 

42. The revolt of the Cadusians on the shores of the Cas- 
pian about this same period, b.c. 384, gave Artaxerxes II. an 
Eevoitofthe opportunity of trying his own qualifications for 
Cadusians, military command. The trial was unfavorable ; 

];.c. 3S4. '^ 

for he was only saved from disaster by the skill 
of Tiribazus, one of his officers, w^ho procured with consum- 
mate art tlie submission of the rebels. 

43. Artaxerxes, however, proud of the success which might 
be said, on the whole, to have attended his arms, was not 

content with the mere recovery of newdy-revolted 

Schemes of . - •> j 

Artaxerxes. proviuccs, but aspired to restore to the emj^ire its 
samos!^^Ex^ ancient limits. His generals commenced the re- 
agaiusT duction of the Greek islands by the occupation 

Egypt, B.C. of Samos; and in b.c. 375, having^ secured the 

services of the Athenian commander, Iphicrates, 
he sent a great expedition against Egypt, which was intend- 
ed to reconquer that country. Iphicrates, however, and 
Pharnabazus, the Persian commander, quarrelled. The expe- 
its tuition wholly failed ; and the knowledge of the 

failure provoked a general spirit of disaffection in 
the western satrapies, which brought the empire to the verge 
of destruction. But corruption and treachery, now the usual 
Persian w^eapons, were successful once more. Orontes and 
, ., .. . Rheomithras took bribes to desert their confed- 

Agesilaus in 

Egypt, U.C. erates ; Datames w^as entrapped and executed. 
An attempt of Egypt, favored by Sparta, and pro- 
moted by Agesilaiis in person, b.c. 361, to annex Phoenicia 
and Syria, was frustrated by internal commotions, and the 
reign of Artaxerxes closed Avithout any further contraction 
of the Persian territory. 

44. The court continued during the reign of Artaxerxes 
II. a scene of horrors and atrocities of the same kind that 
Disorders of bad prevailed since the time of Xerxes I. Pary- 
ihe court. satis, the queen-mother, was its presiding spirit; 
and the* long catalogue of her cruel and bloody deeds is al- 
most without a parallel even in the history of Oriental des- 
potisms. The members of the royal household became now 

6 



122 PERSIA. [book II. 

the special objects of jealousy to one another; family affec- 
tion had disappeared ; and executions, assassinations, and sui- 
cides decimated the royal stock. 

45. Ochus, the youngest legitimate son of Artaxerxes II., 
who had obtained the throne by the execution of his eldest 

and the suicide of his second brother, assumed on 

Reigu of Ar- . . ^ • /. i 

taxerxes III., his acccssion (B.C. 359) the name of his father, and 

it.c. 359-338. . , aV.. • ttt tt • x« 

IS known as Artaxerxes 111. He was a prmce oi 
more vigor and spirit than any monarch since Darius Hys- 
taspis; and the power, reputation, and general prosperity of 
the empire were greatly advanced under his administration. 
The court, however, was incurably corrupt ; and Ochus can 
not be said to liave at all improved its condition. Rather, 
it was a just Nemesis by which, after a reign of twenty-one 
years, B.C. 359 to 338, he fell a victim to a conspiracy of the 
seraglio. 

46. The first step taken by the new king was the com- 
Destruction P^^^^ destruction of the royal family, or, at any 
of the royal rate, of all but its more remote branches. Hav- 

stock. 

ing thus secured himself against rivals, he pro- 
ceeded to arrange and execute some important enterprises. 

47. The revolt of Artabazus in Asia Minor, fomented at 
first' by Athens, and afterwards by Thebes, was important 
Revolt of \r- ^^^^^ ^^ delaying the grand enterprise of Ochus, 
tabazus, who and as leadino; to the first betraval of a spirit 

flies to Philip . ^ . 

ofMacedoii, inimical to Persia on the part of Philip of Mace- 
don. Phili]3 received Artabazus as a refugee at 
his court, and thus provoked those hostile measures to which 
Ochus had recourse later in his reign — measures which fur- 
nished a ground of complaint to Alexander. 

48. About B.C. 351, Ochus marched a large army into 
Egypt, bent on recovering that province to the empire. 
First expedi- Ncctanebo, howcver, the Egyptian king, met him 
a'SinSgypt i^ the field, defeated him, and completely re- 
faiis. pulsed his expedition. Ochus returned to Persia 
to collect fresh forces, and immediately the whole of the 
West was in a flame. Phoenicia reclaimed her independence, 

and placed herself under the government of Ten- 
nes, king of Sidon. Cyprus revolted, and set up 
nine native sovereigns. In Asia Minor a dozen petty chief- 
tains assumed the airs of actual monarchs. Ochus, however, 



SECT. 49-51.] REIGN OF ARTAXERXES OCHUS. 123 

nothing daunted, employed his satraps to quell or check the 
revolts, while he himself collected a second armament, ob- 
tained the services of Greek generals, and hired Greek mer- 
cenaries to the number of 10,000. He then proceeded in 
person against Phoenicia and Egypt, b.c. 346. 

49. Partly by force, but mainly by treachery, Sidon was 
taken and Phoenicia reduced to subjection; Mentor, with 
Second expe- 4000 Greeks, deserting and joining the Persians. 
SuiSS Egypt was then a second time invaded ; Necta- 
ff/^\^^^\,.^ nebo was defeated and driven from the country ; 

i)4D, wnicn. uie ^ •' ' 

recovered. and the Egyptian satrapy was recovered. The 
glory which Ochus thus acquired was great ; but the value 
of his success, as an indication of reviving Persian vigor, was 
diminished by the fact that it was mainly owing to the con- 
duct of Greek generals and the courage of Greek mercena- 
Periodofvi'^- ^*^^^' Still, to Bagoas, the eunuch, and to Ochus 
^^- himself, some of the credit must be allowed ; and 

the vigorous administration which followed on the Egyptian 
campaign gave promise of a real recovery of pristine force 
and strength. But this prospect was soon clouded by a 
fresh revolution in the palace, which removed the most ca- 
pable of the later Achaemenian monarchs. 

50. A savage cruelty was one of the most prominent fea- 
tures in the character of Ochus ; and his fierceness and vio- 
^ , . lence had rendered him unpopular with his sub- 

Ochns IS mur- . i t^ i ' -, • n - - 

dered by Ba- iects, when the cunuch Baojoas, his chief minister, 

{Toas, B.C. 338. "^ / t , . . f- ^^^ -r» 

Reign of Ar- Ventured on his assassination, b.c. 338, Bagoas 
^^^' placed Arses, the king's youngest son, upon the 

throne, and destroyed the rest of the seed royal. It was his 
object to reign as minister of a prince who was little more 
than a boy; but after two years he grew alarmed at some 
threats that Arses had uttered, and secured himself by a 
fresh murder. Not venturing to assume the vacant crown 
himself, he conferred it on a friend, named Codomannus — 
perhaps descended from Darius II. — who mounted the throne 
under the title of Darius III., and immediately put to death 
the wretch to whom he owed his elevation, b.c. 336. 

51. Superior morally to the greater number of his prede- 

cessors, Darius III. did not possess sufficient intel- 

ReignofDa- , , i .,- i , i • ^ -^i xi 

rius III., B.O. lectual ability to enable him to grapple with the 
difficulties of the circumstances in which he was 



124 PERSIA. . [book ii. 

placed. The Macedonian invasion of Asia, whicli had com- 
menced before he mounted the throne, laiied to alarm him 
as it ought to have done. He probably despised Alex- 
ander's youth and inexperience ; at any rate, it is certain 
that he took no sufficient measures to guard his country 
against the attack with which it was threatened. Had Per- 
sia joined the European enemies of Alexander in the first 
year of his reign, the Macedonian conquest of Asia might 
never have taken place. Still, Darius was not wholly want- 
ing to the occasion. An important native and mercenary 
force was collected in Mysia to oppose the invader, if he 
should land ; and a large fleet was sent to the coast, which 
ought to have made the passage of the Hellespont a matter 
of difficulty. But the remissness and over-confidence of the 
. Persian leaders rendered these measures ineiFect- 
vadesAsia, ual. Alexander's landing was unopposed, and 
the battle of the Granicus (b.c. 334), which might 
have been avoided, caused the immediate loss of all Asia 
Minor. Soon afterwards, the death of Memnon deprived 
Darius of his last chance of success by disconcerting all his 
plans for the invasion of Europe. Compelled to act wholly 
on the defensive, he levied two great armies, and fought two 
Buttle of Is- great battles against his foe. In the first of these, 
!?ns,]j.c.333. ^|. igg^g (i3c^ 333), he no doubt threw away all 
i.'Iiance of victory by engaging his adversary in a defile; but 
in the second all the advantages that nature had placed on 
l.'ie side of the Persians were given full fjlay. Tlie battle 
r, itticof Ai-- of Arbela (Oct. 1, b.c. 331), fought in the broad 
bi;ia, li.c.aoi. plains of Adiabene, on ground carefully selected 
and prepared by the Persians, fairly tested the relative 
strength of the two powers ; and when it was lost, the em- 
pire of Persia came naturally to an end. The result of the 
contest might have been predicted from the time of the bat- 
tle of Marathon. The inveterate tendency of Greece to dis- 
union, and the liberal employment of Persian gold, had de- 
ferred a result that could not be prevented, for nearly two 
centuries. 

For the details of the Greek wars with Persia, see Book III., Third Peri- 
od ; and for those of the uar between Darius and Alexander, see Book IV., 
First Period. 



iidA: 



,^^Ut< 



BOOK III 



HISTORY OF THE GRECIAN STATES FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO 
THE ACCESSION OF ALEXANDER. 

Geograpldcal Outline. 

1. Hellas, or Greece Proper, is a peninsula of moderate 
size, bounded on the nortli by Olympus, the Cambunian 
Shape, bound- mountains, and an artificial line prolonged west- 
oEcieut^^^'^ ward to the Acroceraunian promontory; on the 
Greece. \\Q^t by the Adriatic or Ionian Gulf; on the 
south by the Mediterranean ; and on the east by the ^gean 
Sea. Its greatest length from nortli to south, between the 
Cambunian mountains and Cape Tsenarus, is about 250 Eng- 
lish miles ; its greatest width, between the Acroceraunian 
promontory and the mouth of the Peneus, or again between 
the coast of Acarnania and Marathon in Attica, is about 180 
miles. Its superficial extent has been estimated at 35,000 
square miles, which is somewhat less than the size of Por- 
tugal. 

2. The geographical features which most distinctly char- 
acterize the Hellenic Peninsula are the numbei- of its mount- 
Chief charac- ^'^"^ ^^^^ ^^^^ extent of its sea-board. Numerous 
teristics: L deep bays strono^ly indent the coast, Avhile longj 

Extent of sea- l .-' a J _ ' _ » 

hoard. 2. and narrow promontories run out far into the 

Number of 1 1 • t • i . -^ 

mountain- sea ou all sides, causing the proportion or coast 
to area to be very much greater than is found in 
any other country of Southern Europe. Excellent harbors 
abound; the tideless sea has few dangers; ofl:' the coast lie 
numerous littoral islands of great beauty and fertility. Na- 
ture has done her utmost to tempt the population to mari- 
time pursuits, and to make them cultivate the art of naviga- 
tion. Communication between most parts of the country is 
shorter and easier by sea than by land ; for the mountain- 
chains which intersect the rec-ion in all directions are for the 



12G GREECE. [book hi. 

most part lofty and rugged, traversable only by a few passes, 
often blocked by snow in the winter time. 

3. The Mountain-system of Greece may best be regarded 
as an offshoot from the great European chain of the Alps. 
General de- At a point a little to the west of the 21st degree 
SiounSn. of longitude (E. from Greenwich), the Albanian 
system. Alps throw out a spur, which, under the names 

of Scardus, Pindus, Corax, Taphiassus, Panachaicus, Lampea, 
Pholoe, Parrhasius, and Taygetus, runs in a direction a little 
east of south from the 42d parallel to the promontory of Tse- 
narum. From this great lo7igitudinal chain are thrown out, 
at brief intervals on either side, a series of lateral branches, 
having a general latitudinal direction ; from which again 
there start off other cross ranges, which follow the course 
of the main chain, or backbone of the region, pointing nearly 
south-east. The latitudinal chains are es^^ecially marked 
and important in the eastern division of the country, between 
Pindus and the ^gean. Here are thrown off, successively, 
tlie Cambunian and Olympic range, which formed the north- 
ern boundary of Greece Proper; the range of Othrys, which 
separated Thessaly from Malis and JEniania ; that of (Eta, 
which divided between Malis and Doris ; and that of Par- 
nassus, Helicon, Cithseron, and Parnes, which, starting from 
near Delphi, terminated in the Rhamnusian promontory, op- 
posite Euboea, forming in its eastern portion a strong barrier 
between Boeotia and Attica. Of a similar character on the 
opposite side were Mount Lingus in Northern Epirus, which 
struck westward from Pindus at a point nearly opposite the 
Cambunians ; together with Mount Tymphrestus in North- 
ern, and Mount Bomius in Central ^tolia. In the Pelopon- 
nese, the main chain, which stretched from Rhium to T»na- 
rum, threw off, on the west, Mount Scollis, which divided 
Achiea from Elis, and Mount Elaeon, which separated Elis 
from Messenia ; while, towards the east, the lateral branches 
were, first, one which, under the names of Erymanthus, Aroa- 
nia, and Cyllene, divided Achjsa from Arcadia, and which 
was then prolonged eastward to the Scyllsean promontory in 
Argolis ; and, secondly, Mount Parthenium, which intervened 
between Argolis and Laconia. Of secondary longitudinal 
chains the only ones which need special mention are the 
range of Pelion and Ossa, Avhich shut in Thessaly on the east; 



SECT. 4-G.] GEOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE. 127 

that of Pentelicns, Hymettus, and Anhydrus, in Attica; and 
that of Parnon in the Peloj^onnese, which stretched from 
near Tegea to Malea. 

4. The Mountain-chains of Greece occupy so large a por- 
tion of the area that but little is left for level ground or 

^^ , . Plains. Still, a certain number of such spaces 

The plams. .^ _'. i-.^^.. 

existed, and were tlie more valued for their rarity. 
The greater i)ortion of Thessaly was a vast plain, surrounded 
by mountains, and drained by a single river, the Peneus. 
In Boeotia there were two large plains, one the marshy plain 
of the Cephissus, much of which was occupied by Lake Co- 
pais ; and the other, the plain of Asopus, on the verge of 
which stood Thebes, Thesj^iae, and Platsea. Attica boasted 
of three principal plains, that of Eleusis, adjoining the city 
of the name, that of Athens itself, and that of Marathon. In 
Western and Southern Pelopoimese were the lowlands of 
Cava Elis on either side of the Peneus river, of Macaria, about 
the mouth of the Pamisus, and of Helos, at the embouchure 
of the Eurotas ; in the central region were the high upland 
plains, or basins, of Tegea, Mantinea, Pheneus, and Orchome- 
nus ; while Eastern Peloponnese boasted the fertile alluvium 
of Argos, watered by the Chimarrhus, Erasinus, Phrixus, 
Charadrus, and Inachus. 

5. The RivEKS of Greece were numerous, but of small vol- 
ume, the majority being little more than winter torrents, 

The rivers. ^"^^ Carrying little or no water in the summer- 
time. The only streams of any real magnitude 
were the Acheloiis, which rose in Epirus, and divided ^tolia 
from Acarnania ; the northern Peneus, Avhich drained the 
great Thessalian plain; and the Alpheus, the stream on 
whose banks stood Olympia. Among secondary rivers may 
be noticed the Thyamis, Oropus, and Arachthus, in Epirus ; 
the Evenus and Daphnus, in ^tolia; the Spercheius, in 
Malis ; the Cephissus and Asopus, in Boeotia ; the Peneus, 
Pamisus, Eurotas, and Inachus, in the Peloponnese. 

6. It is a characteristic of the Grecian rivers to disappear 
in Catahothra or subterraneous passages. The limestone 
The Catabo- rocks are full of caves and fissures, while the j^lains 
^^^^- consist often of land-locked basins which present 
to the eye no manifest outlet. Here the streams commonly 
form lakes, the waters of which flow off through an under- 



]28 GKEECE. [ijook in. 

ground channel, sometimes visible, sometimes only conjec- 
tured to exist, to the sea. Instances of such visible outlets 
are those by which the Cepliissus finds an egress from Lake 
Co^Dais, in Boeotia (where art, however, has assisted nature), 
and those by which the superfluous waters are carried off 
from most of the lakes in the Peloponnese. Invisible chan- 
nels are believed to give a means of escape to the waters of 
Lakes Hylice and Trephia, in Boiotia. 

7. The Lakes of Greece are numerous, but not very re- 
markable. The largest is Lake Copais, in Boeotia, the area 

of which has been estimated at forty-one square 

The lakes 

miles. N^ext in size to this is, probably, Boebeis, 
in Thessaly, formed mainly by the overflowings of the Pe- 
neus. To these may be added La'ke Pambotis, in Epirus, on 
the southern shores of which was the oracular shrine of Do- 
dona ; Lakes Trichonis and Conope, in ^tolia, between the 
Evenus and Acheloiis ; Lake Nessonis, near Lake Boebeis, in 
Thessaly; Lake Xynias, in Achsea Phthiotis; the smaller 
Boeotian lakes, Ilylice and Trephia; and the Arcadian lakes 
of Pheneus, Stymphalus, Orchomenus, Mantinea, and Tegea. 

8. It has been observed that the littoral islands of Greece 
were both numerous and important. The principal one was 
The littoral Euboea, whicli lay as a great breakwater along 
islands. ^]^^ Avholc east coast of Attica, Boeotia, and Lo- 
cris, extending in length rather more than 100 miles, with 
an average breadth of about fifteen miles. Very inferior to 
this in size, but nearly equal in importance, was Corcyra, on 
the opposite or w^estern side of the peninsula, which had a 
length of forty, and a breadth varying from fifteen to five 
miles. Besides these, there lay ofl* the west coast Paxos, 
Leucas or Leucadia, Ithaca, Cephallenia, and Zacynthus (now 
Zante) ; oif the south, the CEnussa^ and Cythera ; off the east, 
Tiparenus, Hydria, Calauria, ^gina, Salamis, Cythnus, Ceos, 
Helene, Andros, Scyros, Peparethus, Halonnesus, and Scia- 
thus. From the south-eastern shores of Euboea and Attica, 
the Cyclades and Sporades extended in a continuous series, 
like a set of stepping-stones, across the ^gean Sea to Asia. 
On the other side, from Corcyra and the Acroceraunian 
promontory, the eye could see, on a clear day, the opposite 
coast of Italy. 

9. The natural division of Greece is into IsTortheen, Cen- 



SKCT. 10-12.] GEOGRAPHICAL OUTLINP:. 129 . 

TRAL, and Southern. Northei'ii Grcece extends from the 
Nutiuai divis- "oi'tli boundary-line to the point where the east- 
^""^- era and western shores are respectively indented 

by tlie Gulfs of Malis and Ambracia or Actium. Central 
Greece reaches from this point to the Isthmus of Corinth. 
Southern Greece is identical with the Peloponnese. 

10. Northern Greece contained in ancient times two 
principal countries, Thessaly and Epirus, which were sepa- 
NoRTiiEEN rated from each other by the high chain of Pin- 
Gkeece. (-1^g^ Besides these, there were, on the eastern 
side of the mountain barrier, Magnesia and Acliasa Phthiotis ; 
and in the mountain region itself, halfway between the two • 
gulfs, Dolopia, or the country of the Dolopes. 

11. Thessaly, the largest and most fertile country of 
Greece Proper, was almost identical with the basin of the 

Peneus. It was a region nearly circular in shape, 
^ ' ^* with a diameter of about seventy miles. Mount- 
ains surrounded it on every side, from which descended 
numerous streams, all of them converging, and flowing ulti^^^ 
mately into the Peneus. The united waters passed to th^ / 
sea through a single narrow gorge, the celebrated A'ale of 
Tempe, which was said to have been caused by an earth- 
quake. Thessaly was divided into four provinces : — {a) Per- 
I'hfebia on the north, along the skirts of Olympus and the 
Cambunians ; (b) Histiseotis, towards the west, on the flanks 
of Pindus, and along the upper course of the Peneus ; (c) 
Thessaliotis, towards the south, bordering on Achaea Phthio- 
tis and Dolopia ; and (d) Pelasgiotis, towards the east, be- 
tween the Enipeus and Magnesia. Its chief cities were, in 
Perrhaebia, Gonni and Phalanna ; in Histiaeotis, Gomphi and 
Tricca ; in Thessaliotis, Cierium and Pharsalus ; in Pelasgio- 
tis, Larissa and Pherse. 

12. Epirus, the next largest country to Thessaly, w^as in 
shape an oblong square, seventy miles long from north to 

south, and about fifty-five miles across. It con- 
sisted of a series of lofty mountains, twisted spurs 
from Pindus, with narrow valleys between, along the courses 
of the numerous streams. The main divisions were — on the 
east, Molossis ; chief cities, Dodona, Ambracia : to the north- 
west, Chaonia ; cities, Phcenice, Buthrotum, Cestria : to the 
south-west, Thesprotia; cities, Pandosia, Cassope, and in 

6* 



130 GREECE. [book hi. 

later times, Nicopolis. EiDirus, during the real historical 
period, was Illyrian rather than Greek. 

13. Magnesia and Achsea Phthiotis are sometimes reckon- 
ed as parts of Thessaly ; but, in the early times, at any rate, 

they were distinct countries. Magnesia was the 
agnebia. (joast-tract between the mouth of the Peneus and 
the Pagasaean Gulf, comprising the two connected ranges of 
Ossa and Pelion, with the country immediately at their base. 
It measured in length about sixty-five, and in width from 
ten to fifteen miles. Its chief cities were Myrse, Meliboca, 
and Casthanoea upon the eastern coast ; lolcus, in the Gulf 
of Pagasse ; and Bcebe, near Lake Boebeis, in the interior. 
Achiea Phthiotis was the tract immediately south of Thessa- 
Achjea Phthi- ^J, extending from the Pagasser.n Gulf on the east 
Otis. to the part of Pindus inhabited by the Dolopes. 

It was a region nearly square in shape, each side of the 
square measuring about thirty miles. It consisted of Mount 
Othrys, with the country at its base. The chief cities were 
Halos, Thebae Phthiotides, Itonus, Melitcea, Lamia, and Xy- 
nise, on Lake Xynias. 

14. Dolopia, or the country of the Dolopes, comprised a 
portion of the range of Pindus, together with the more west- 
ern part of Othrys, and the upper valleys of sev- 

o opia. ^^^^^ streams which ran into the Achelotis. It was 
a small tract, not more than forty miles long by fifteen broad, 
and was very rugged and mountainous. 

15. Central Greece, or the tract intervening between 
]N'orthern Greece and the Peloponnese, Contained eleven 
Centeai. countries; viz., Acarnania, ^tolia. Western Lo- 
Gbeece. (.j.^g^ ^niania, Doris, Malis, Eastern Locris, Phocis, 
Boeotia, Attica, and Megaris. 

16. Acarnania, the most western of the countries, was a 
triangular tract, bounded on the north by the Ambracian 

Gulf, on the east by the Achelotis, and on the 

Acaruama. ' , i » n . . -r • t t 

south-Avest by the Adriatic. Its sides measured 
respectively fifty, thirty-five, and thirty miles. Its chief 
cities were, in the interior, Stratus ; on the coast, Anacto- 
rium. Solium, Astacus, and Q^niada}. 

17. ^tolia adjoined Acarnania on the east, and extended 
^, ,. in that direction as far as ^niania and Doris. 

On the north it was bounded by Dolopia ; on the 



SECT. 18-22.] GEOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE. 131 

south by the Corinthian Gulf. In size it was about double 
Acarnania, and its area considerably exceeded that of any 
other country in this part of Hellas. It was generally 
mountainous, but contained a flat and marshy tract between 
the mouths of the Evenus and Achelotis ; and somewhat 
farther to the north, a large plain, in which were two great 
lakes, the Conope and the Trichonis. Its chief cities were 
Pleuron, Calydon, and Thermon. 

1 8. Western Locris, or the country of the Locri Ozola?, lay 
on the coast of the Corinthian Gulf, immediately to the east 
Western Lo- of ^toHa. Its length along the coast was about 
^"'*- thirty-seven miles, and its depth inland from about 
two miles to twenty-three. Its chief cities were Naupactus 
on the coast, and Amphissa in the interior. 

19. ^niania, or ^Etaea, as it was sometimes called, lay also 
east of ^tolia, but towards the north, whereas Locris ad- 
^uianiaor joined it towards the south, ^niania was sepa- 
^ttea. rated from ^tolia by the continuation of Pin- 
dus southward, and was bounded on the north by Othrys 
and on the south by (Eta. It lay thus on the course of the 
upper Spercheius River. It was an oval-shaped country, 
about twenty-seven miles long by eighteen broad. The chief 
town was Hypata. 

20. Doris intervened between ^niania and Western Lo- 
cris. This was a small and rugged country, inclosed between 

. Mounts Parnassus and Callidromus, on the upper 

course of the Pindus River, a tributary of the 
Boeotian Cephissus. Its greatest length was about seventeen 
and its greatest width about ten miles. It contained the four 
cities of Pindus, Erineus, Boeum, and Cytinium, whence it 
was known as the Dorian Tetrapolis. 

21. Malis lay north of Doris, south of Achsea Phthiotis, and 
east of ^niania. It was even smaller than Doris, which it 

resembled in shape. The greatest length was 
about fifteen and the greatest width about eight 
miles. The chief cities were Anticyra and Trachis ; and, in 
later times, Heraclea. At the extreme eastern edge of Malis, 
between the mountains and the sea, was the pass of Ther- 
mopylae, 

22. Eastern Locris lay next to Malis, along the shore of 
the Euripus or Eubcean channel. It was politically divided 



132 GREECE. [hook hi. 

Eastern Lo- "^^^^ *^^'^ parts, Epicnemidia and Opuntia ; Avhich, 
<^"=^- in later times, were physically separated by a small 

strip of ground, reckoned as belonging to Pliocis. Epic- 
nemidia extended about seventeen miles, from near Thcr- 
mopyhe to near Daphnus, averaging about eight miles in 
width. Its chief town was Cnemides. Opuntia reached 
from Alope to beyond the mouth of the Cephissns, a distance 
of twenty-six miles. Its width was about equal to that of 
Epicnemidia. It derived its name from its chief city. Opus. 

23. Pliocis reached from Eastern Locris on the north to 
the Corinthian Gulf on the south. It was bounded on the 

Avest by Doris and Western Locris, on the east by 

Phocis. . 'J 

Bceotia. It was squarish in shape, with an aver- 
age length of twenty-five and an average breadth of twenty 
miles. The central and southern parts were extremely 
mountainous; but along the course of the Cephissns and its 
tributaries there were some fertile plains. The chief cities 
were Delphi, on the southern flank of Mount Parnassus, Ela- 
ta?a, Parapotamii, Panopeus, Aba\ famous for its temple, and 
Ilyampolis. 

24. Bcrotia was above twice the size of Phocis, having a 
length of fifty and an average breadth of twenty-three 

Boeotia '^^il^^- It was generally flat and marshy, but 
contained the mountain range of Helicon on the 
south, and the lofty hills known as Ptoiis, Messapius, Ilypa- 
tus, and Teumessus, towards the more eastern portion of the 
country. The lake Copais covered an area of forty-one 
square miles, or above one-thirtieth of the surface. There 
Avere also two smaller lakes between Copais and the Eubo'- 
an Sea, called resi)ectively Hylice and Trephia. The chief 
rivers of Bcrotia were (besides the Cephissns, which entered 
it from Phocis) the Asopus, the Termessus, the Thespius, and 
the Oeroe. Bcrotia was noted for the number and greatness 
of its cities. The chief of these was Thebes ; but the follow- 
ing were also of importance : Orchomenus, Thespia?, Tana- 
gra, Coronani, Lebadeia, ITaliartus, Chreroneia, Leuctra, and 
CopjB. 

25. Attica was the foreland or peninsula which projected 
from Boeotia to the south-east. Its length, from Citha?ron 

to Sunium, was seventy miles ; its greatest width, 
iVom Munychia to Phamnus, was thirty miles. Its 



SECT. 2«- 30.] GEOGRAPHICAL OUTLINIO. I33 

area has been estimated at 120 square miles, or about one- 
fourth less than Boeotia. The general character of the tract 
was mountainous and infertile. On the north, Cithseron, 
l\arnes, and Phelleus formed a continuous line running near- 
ly east and west; from this descended three spurs: one, 
Avhich divided Attica from the Megarid, known as Kerata; 
another, which separated the Eleusinian from the Athenian 
plain, called ^galeos; and the third, which ran out from 
Parnes by Decelea and Marathon to Cape Zoster, named in 
the north Pentelicus, in the centre Ilymettus, and n(;ar the 
south coast Anhydrus. The towns of Attica, except Athens, 
were unimportant. Its rivers, the two Cephissuses, the Ilis- 
sus, the Erasinus, and the Charadrus, were little more than 
torrent-courses. 

26. Megaris, which adjoined on Attica to the west, occu- 
pied the northern portion of the Isthmus uniting Central 

Greece wit?i the Pcloponnese. It Avas the small- 
est of all the central Greek countries, excepting 
Doris and Malis, being about fourteen miles long by eleven 
broad, and containing less than 150 square miles. It had 
one city only, viz., Megara, Avith the ports Nisica and Pegoe. 

27. SouTiiEKN Gkeece, or the Pcloponnese, contained elev- 
souTiiEUN on countries — viz., Corinth, Sicyon, Achaa, Elis, 
GuEECE. Arcadia, Messenia, Laconia, Argolis, Epidauria, 
Troezenia, and He rm ion is. 

28. The territory of Corinth adjoined Megaris, and in- 
cluded the larger portion of the Isthmus, together Avith a 

^ ' . , tract of somewhat o^reater macrnitude in the Pelo- 

Conuth. T , , * n -1 

ponnese. Its greatest length was twenty-nve and 
its greatest Avidth about twenty-three miles. Its shape, hoAV- 
ever, Avas extremely irregular ; and its area can not be reck- 
oned at more than 230 square miles. The only city of im- 
portance Avas Corinth, the capital, Avhich had a port on eitlier 
sea — on the Corinthian Gulf, Lechaeum, and on the Saronic 
Gulf, Cenchrea). 

29. Sicyon, or Sicyonia, adjoined Corinth on the Avest. It 
lay 'along the shore of the Corinthian Gulf for a distance of 

Sicyonia ^^0"t fifteen milcs, and extended inland about 
twelve or thirteen miles. It contained but one 
city, viz., Sicyon. 

30. Achsea came next to Sicyonia, and extended along the 



134 GREECE. [hook hi. 

coast a distance of about sixty-five miles. Its avjsrage width 

. ^ was about ten miles ; and its area may be reck- 

oned at 650 square miles. It contamed twelve 

cities, of which Dyme, Patrge (now Patras), andPellene were 

the most important. 

31. Elis lay on the west coast of the Peloponnese, extend- 
-ing from the mouth of the Larisus to that of the Neda, a 

distance of fifty-seven miles, and reaching inland 
to the foot of Erymanthus, about twenty-five 
miles. It was a more level country than was common in 
Greece, containing broad tracts of plain along the coast, and 
some tolerably wide valleys along the courses of the Peneus, 
Alpheus, and Neda rivers. Its chief cities were Elis, on the 
Peneus, the port Cyllene, on the gulf of the same name, Olym- 
pia and Pisa, on tlie Alpheus, and Lepreum, in Southern Elis 
or Triphylia. 

32. Arcadia was the central mountain country — l^he Switz- 
erland — of the Peloponnese. It reached from the mount- 
ain-chain of Erymanthus, Aroania, and Cyllene in 
the north, to the sources of the Alpheus towards 

the south, a distance of about sixty miles. The average 
width was about forty miles. The area is reckoned at 1700 
square miles. The country is for the most part a mountain- 
ous table-land, the rivers of which, excepting towards the 
west and the south-west, are absorbed in catabothra, and 
have no visible outlet to the sea. High plains and small 
lakes are numerous ; but by far the greater part of the area 
is occupied by mountains and narrow but fertile valleys. 
Important cities were numerous. Among them may be 
named Mantinea, Tegea, Orchomenus, Pheneus, Hersea, Pso- 
phis, and, in the later times, Megalopolis. 

33. Messenia lay south of Elis and Western Arcadia, oc- 
cupying the most westerly of the three forelands in w^hich 

the Peloponnese terminates, and circlins^ round 
the gulf between this foreland and the central 
one as far as the mouth of the Choerius. Its length, from 
the Neda to the promontory of Acritas, was forty-five miles ; 
its greatest width between Laconia and the western coast 
was thirty-seven miles. The area is estimated at 1160 
square miles. Much of the country was mountainous ; but 
along the course of the main river, the Pamisus, were some 



SECT. 34-37.] GEOGUAFHICAL OUTLINE. I35 

broad plains, and the entire territory was fertile. The origi- 
nal capital was Stenyclerus ; but afterwards Messene, on the 
south-western flank of Mount Ithome, became the chief towi^. 
Other important places were Eira on the upper Neda, Pylus 
(now Navarino), and Methone, south of Pylus (now Modon). 

34. Laconia embraced the two other Peloponnesian fore- 
lands, together with a considerable tract to the north of 

them. Its sjreatest lenojth, between Aro^olis and 
the promontory 01 Malea, was nearly eighty 
miles, while its greatest width was not much short of fifty 
miles. The area approached nearly to 1900 square miles. 
The country consisted mainly of a single narrowish valley — 
that of the Eurotas — inclosed between two lofty mountain- 
ranges — those of Parnon and Taygetus. Hence the expres- 
sion, "Hollow Lacedaemon." Sparta, the capital, lay on the 
Eurotas, at the distance of about twenty miles from the sea. 
The other towns were unimportant; the chief were GytLi- 
um and Thyrea on the coast, and Sellasia in the valley of 
the ^nus. 

35. Argolis is a term sometimes applied to the whole tract 
projecting eastward from Achgea and Arcadia, with the ex- 
ception of the small territory of Corinth : but the 

rgo IS. ^yQy^ ^yiii ^^Q jj^j-g ^iscd lu a uarrowcr sense. Ar- 
golis Proper was bounded by Sicyonia and Corinthia on the 
north, by Epidaurus on the east, by Cynuria — a portion of 
Laconia — on the south, and by Arcadia on the west. Its 
greatest extent from north to south was about thirty, and 
from east to west about thirty-one miles. Its entire area 
did not exceed 700 square miles. Like the rest of the Pelo- 
ponnese, it was mountainous, but contained a large and rich 
plain at the head of the Argolic Gulf Its capital was, in 
early times, Mycenae ; afterwards Argos. Other cities of 
importance Avere Phlius, Cleonse, and Tiryns. The port of 
Argos was Nauplia. 

36. Epidauria lay east of Argolis, east and south of Co- 
rinthia. Its length from north to south was about twenty- 
three miles, and its breadth in the opposite direc- 

pi auna. ^.^^^ about eight miles. It contained but one 
city of any note, viz., Epidaurus, the capital. 

37. Troezenia adjoined Epidauria on the south-east. It 
comprised the north-eastern half of the Argolic foreland, to- 



13G GREECE. [book hi, 

getlier with the rocky peninsula of Methana. Its 
greatest length was sixteen miles, and its great- 
est width, excluding Methana, nine miles. It contained two 
cities of note, Trcezen and Methana. 

38. Hermionis adjoined Epidauiia on the north and Troe- 
zenia on the east. It formed the western termination of the 

. . Aro'olic foreland. In size it was about equal to 

Ilermionis. r^ . -r • t t n 

Troezenia. It contamcd but one town or any con- 
sequence, viz., Hermione. 

39. Besides the littoral islands of Greece, which have been 
already enumerated, there were several others, studding the 

^gean Sea, which deserve notice ; as particular- 
ly the following: — (a) In the Northern ^gean, 
Lemnos, Imbrus, Thasos, and Saraothrace. (b) In the Cen- 
tral ^gean, besides Andros, Ceos, and Cythnus, which may 
be called littoral, Tenos, Syros, Gj^arus, Delos,Myconus,Nax- 
os, Pares, Siphnus, Melos, Thera, Amorgus, etc. (e) In the 
Southern ^gean, Crete. This last-named island was of con- 
siderable size. It extended from west to east a distance of 
150 miles, and had an average width of about fifteen miles. 
The area considerably exceeded 2000 square miles. The 
chief cities were Cydonia and Gnossus on the north coast, 
and Gortyna in the interior. The whole island was mount- 
ainous but fertile. 

On the charactoi- of the Greek Islands, see the work of 

lloss, L., Reisen auf den Griechischen Inseln. Stuttgart, 1840-52 ; 3 
vols. 8vo. 

On the general geography of Greece, the following may be 
consulted with advantage : 

IvRUSE, F. G. II., Hellas. Leipsic, 1825-27 ; 3 vols. 8vo. A general de- 
scription of the geography of Greece from the best sources existing at the 
time. Still of value to the student. 

Cramer, J. A., Geographical and Historical Description of Ancient 
Greece. Oxford, 1828 ; 3 vols. 8vo. 

Leake, Col., Travels in Northern Greece. London, 1835 ; 4 vols. Svo. 
" '• Travels in the Morea. London, 1830; 3 vols. Svo. 

" " Peloponnesiaca, supplemental to ihe Travels in the Morea. 

London, 1 84G ; 8vo. 

CuRTius, E., Peloponnesus. Gotha, 1851-2; 2 vols. Svo. 

Clark, W. G., Peloponnesus, Notes of Study and Travel. London, 1858 ; 
8vo. 

NiEBUHR, B. G., Lectures on the Ethnography and Geography of Ancient 



I'Ku. I.J KAKLY IIISTORY. Qoy 

6rreece, edited by L, ScHMiTZ. London, 1853; 2 vols. 8vo ; from the Ger- 
man edition of Dr. Isler. 

Concerning the Greek islands off tlic coast of Asia Minor, 
see Book I., Part I., A. (p. 29). 



SKETCH OF THE HISTORY. 

FIRST PERIOD. 

The Ancient Traditional History , from the Earliest Times to the Dorian 
Occupation of the Peloponnese, about u.c. 1100 to 1000. 

Sources. Native only, (a) Homer. The two poems which pass under 
this venerable name, whatever their actual origin, must always continue to 
be, on account of their great antiquity, the prime authority for tlie early 
condition of things in Greece. Modern criticism ngrees with ancient in 
viewing them as the earliest remains of Greek literature that have come 
down to us; and, if their actual date is about B.C. 850, as now generally 
believed, they must be regarded as standing apart on a vantage-ground of 
their own ; for we have nothing else continuous or complete in Greek litera- 
ture for nearly four centuries. (h) Herodotus. This writer, though the 
immediate subject of his history is the great Persian War, yet carries us back 
in the episodical portions of his work to very remote times, and is entitled to 
consideration as a careful inquirer into the antiquities of many nations, his 
own among the number, (c) TiiucvrnDES. The sketch with which the 
history of Thucydides opens, a masterly production, gives the judgment of a 
shrewd and well-read Athenian of the fourth century b.c. on the antiquities 
of Greece, (d) Diodorus Siculus collected from previous writers, par- 
ticularly Ephorus and Timteus, the early traditional history of Greece, and 
related it in his fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh books ; of these the fourth 
and fifth remain, Avhile the other two are lost, excepting a few fragments, 
(e) Much interesting information on the early history of Greece is contained 
in the geographers, as particularly in Strabo, Pausanias, and Scymnus Chins. 
Of Plutarch's Lives one only, that of Theseus, belongs to the early period. 

Among modern works treating of this time may be mentioned the follow- 
ing : 

IIeeren, a. II. L., Licen iiber die Politik, etc., vol. vi. Gottingen, 182G. 
Translated into English by Talboys. Oxford, 1 830 ; 8vo. 

NiEBUiiR, B. G., Vortrdge iiber alte Geschichte. Berlin, 1847; 3 vols. 
8vo. Translated into English, with additions and corrections, by Dr. L. 
ScHMiTZ. London, 1852. 

MiJLLER, K. 0., Orchomemis und die Minyer. Breslau, 1820; 8vo. 

" " Die Doricr. Breslau, 1825 ; 2 vols. 8vo. Translated 

into English by Sir G. C. Leavis. Oxford, 1830. 

Clinton, H. P., Fasti Hellenici. Oxford, 1830-41 : 3 vols. 4to. The 
"Introduction " to the first volume bears particularly on this period. 



138 .GREECE. [nooic in. 

Thirl WALL, Bp. , History of Greece, vol, i. chaps, ii. to vii. 

Grote, G,, History of Greece, vol, i, chaps, i. to xx. 

The value to be placed on the general historical narrative belonging to 
these early times will depend, (1) on the view which is taken of the proba- 
bility of oral traditions handing down correctly the general outline of events 
of national importance ; and (2) on the question at what time historical 
events began to be contemporaneously recorded in inscriptions, or otherwise, 
by the Greeks. On the latter point, the student may compare the nineteenth 
chapter of Mr. Grote's History of Greece with Mr. Clinton's "Introduc- 
tion," and with Col. Mure's Remarks on two Appendices to Grote's History 
of Greece. London, 1851. 

1. The Greeks of the historical times seem to have had 
no traditions of a migration from Asia. Their ancestors, 
Eaki-iestin- ^^^^^ held, had always been in the country, 
"^^y^A^^'Ts OF though they had not always been called Hel- 
lenes. Greece had been inhabited from a remote 

age by races more or less homogeneous, and more or less 
^ , . , closely allied with their own — Pelascji, Lelecfes, 

Pelasgi.etc ^ ^ -^ ^ . ^^ , t^* ' ° ' 

Curetes, Caucones, Aones, Dolopes, Dryopes, and 

the like. Of these, the Pelasgi had been the most impor- 

^ tant. The Hellenes proper had originally been 

but one tribe out of many cognate ones. They 
had dwelt in Achsea Phthiotis, or, according to others, near 
Dodona, and had originally been insignificant in numbers 
and of small account. In process of time, however, they ac- 
quired a reputation above that of the other tribes ; recourse 
^vas had to them for advice and aid in circumstances of diffi- 
culty ; other tribes came over to them, adopted their name, 
their form of speech, and the general character of their civ- 
ilization. The growth and spread of the Hellenes Avas thus 
not by conquest but by influence ; they did not overpower 
or expel the Pelasgi, Leleges, etc., but gradually assimilated 
them. 

Characteristics of the Pelasgic, or ante-Hellenic Period. 1. 
Time of peace — golden age of the poets. 2. General pursuit of agriculture. 
3, Architecture massive, and with little ornament. 4. Religion simple— no 
names of distinct gods. National sanctuary at Dodona. 

2. The original Hellenic tribes seem to have been two only, 
the Dorians and the Achseans, of whom the latter preponder- 
Heiienic ^^cd in the more ancient times. Settled in Achaea 
AcSns* 2. Phthiotis from a remote antiquity, they were also, 
Dorians. before the Dorian occupation, tlie leading race of 



PKR. ,.] CHIEF KACES. 130 

the Peloponnesc. Here they are said to have had three 
khigdoms — those of Argos, Mycenae, and Sparta — which at- 
tained to a considerable degree of prosperity and civilization. 
The Dorians were reported to have dwelt originally with the 
Acha^ans in Phthiotis ; but their earliest ascertained locality 
was the tract on the Upper Pindus Avhicli retained the name 
of Doris down to Roman times. In this " small and sad re- 
gion" they grew to greatness, increasing in numbers, ac- 
quiring martial habits, and jierhaps developing a peculiar 
discipline. 

3. The most important of the Pelasgic tribes was that of 
the lonians, which occupied in the earliest times the whole 
Pelasgic north coast of the Peloponnese, the Megarid, 

ISanf' i'^'S- Attica, and Euboea. Another (so-called) tribe 
liaus. (which is, however, perhaps, only a convenient 

designation under which to include such inhabitants of the 
country as were not Achaean, Dorian, or Ionian) was that of 
the JEolians, to which the Thessalians, Boeotians, ^tolians, 
Locrians, Phocians, Eleans, Pylians, etc., were regarded as 
belonging. These races having been gradually Hellenized, 
the entire four tribes came to be regarded as Hellenic, and 
a mythic genealogy was framed to express at once the ethnic 
unity and the tribal diversity of the four great divisions of 
the Hellenic people. 

IIellen. 

-+- 



DoRus. XuTHUs. tEolus. 



AcH^us. Ion. 

4. According to the traditions of the Greeks, some impor- 
tant foreign elements were received into the nation during 
Foreign set- the period of which we are treating. Egyptians 
Greece. Ben- Settled in Attica and Argolis; Phoenicians in 
fmmthem.^'^ Bceotia ; and Mysians, or Phrygians, at Argos. 
Letters. The civilization of the settlers Avas higher than 

that of the people among whom they settletl, and some con- 
siderable benefits were obtained from these foreign sources. 
Among them may be especially mentioned letters, which 
were derived from the Phoenicians, probably anterior to b.c. 
1100. Although writing, for some centuries after its intro- 
duction, was not much used, yet its occasional employment, 
especially for public purposes, was an important check upon 



140 GREECE. [nooK irr. 

the erratic tendencies of oral tradition. Inscriptions on the 
offerings in temj)les, and registers of the succession of kings 
and sacerdotal persons, were among the earliest of the Greek 
historical documents ; and though there is no actual proof 
that they reached back as far as this "First Period," yet 
there is certainly no proof of the contrary, and many of tlie 
best critics believe in the public employment of writing in 
Greece thus early. 

On this interesting question see, on the one side, Mr. Eynes Clinton, in 
the "Introduction" to vol. i. of his Fasti Hellenici, and K. O. Muller^ 
Dorians, vol. i. pp. 147-15G ; and, on the other, Mr. Grote, in liis History 
of Greece, vol. i. chap. xix. 

5. But, whatever benefits Avere derived by tlie Greeks from 
the foreigners who settled among them, it is evident that 
Greek civiii- neither the purity of their race, nor the general 
main of home character and course of their civilization, was much 
growth. affected -by extraneous influences. The incomers 
were comparatively few in number, and were absorbed into 
the Hellenic nation without leaving any thing more than a 
faint trace of themselves upon the language, customs, or relig- 
ion of the people which received them into its bosom. Greek 
civilization was in the main of home growth. Even the ideas 
adopted from without acquired in the process of reception so 
new a stamp as to become almost original ; and the Greek 
people must be held to have, on the whole, elaborated for 
themselves that form of civilization, and those ideas on the 
subjects of art, politics, morals, and religion, which have given 
them their peculiar reputation. 

Egyptian settlement at Athens traceable in the deities Athene (Neith) and 
Hephaistus (Phtha) ; in the early Athenian caste-tribes ; and, perhaps, in the 
special religiousness (ckiGiSaijuovia) of the Athenians. Phoenician settlement 
at Thebes traceable in the proper names, Cadmeians, Cadmeia, and Onca, 
and in such words as f/^e/^of, 'E/l^crf, ftavva, axdvrj, aide, k.t.1. Settlements 
of Danaus and Pelops in the Peloponnese not traceable. 

6. History proper can scarcely be regarded as commencing 
until the very close of the period now under consideration, 

when we first meet with names which have some 
proper of this claim to bc regarded as those of actual personages. 
peuo . j^^^^ ^j^^ general condition of the people at the pe- 

riod, and some of the movements of the races, and even their 
causes, may be laid down Avith an approach to certainty. 



rEiM.J EARLY CONDITION OF SOCIETY. Ul 

7. The Honiciic poems represent to us the general state 
of Greek society in the earliest times. The most noticeable 

features are : — (a) The predominance of the tribe 
of Greek soci- or" nation over the city, which exists indeed, but 
^ ^" has nowhere the monopoly of political life, (b) 

The universality of kingly government, Avhich is hereditary 
and based upon the notion of " divine right." [c) The exist- 
ence of an hereditary nobility of a rank not much below that 
of the king, who form his council (/3ouX//) both in peace and 
Avar, but exercise no effectual control over his actions, (c?) 
The existence of an assembly (ayopa) which is convened by 
the king, or, in his absence, by one of the chiefs, to receive 
communications, and witness trials, but not either to advise 
or judge, (e) The absence of polygamy and the high regard 
in which women are held. (/) Slavery everywhere estab- 
lished, and considered to be rigjit. (g) Perpetual wars, not 
only between the Greeks and neighboring barbarians, but 
between the various Greek tribes and nations ; preference of 
the military virtues over all others ; excessive regard for 
stature and physical strength, (h) Wide prevalence of nau- 
tical habits combined with a disinclination to venture into 
unknown seas ; dependence of the Greeks on foreigners for 
necessary imports. Piracy common ; cities built at a dis- 
tance from the sea from fear of pirates, (i) Strong religious 
feeling ; belief in polytheism, in fate, in the divine Nemesis, 
and the punishment of heinous crimes by the Furies. Pe- 
spect for the priestly character, for heralds, guests, and sup- 
pliants. Peculiar sanctity of temples and festival seasons.. 

8. The religious sentiment, always strong in the Greek 
mind, formed in the early times one of the most important 
Reii^oua of the bouds of union which held men, and.even 
AmfhSyo-"' tribes, together. Community of belief led to com- 
mies, munity of worship ; and temples came to be frcr 
quented by all the tribes dAvelling around them, who were 
thus induced to contract engagements with one another, and 
to form leagues of a peculiar character. These leagues, 
known as Amphictyonies, were not political alliances, much 
less confederations ; they were, in their original conception, 
limited altogether to religious purposes ; the tribes, or states, 
contracting them, bound themselves to protect certain sa- 
cred buildings, rites, and persons, but undertook no other 



142 GKEECE.* [hook in. 

engagements towards one another. The most noted of these 
leao-nes was that whereof the oracular shrine of Delphi was 
the centre ; which acquired its peculiar dignity and impor- 
tance, not so much from the w^ealth and influence of the Del- 
phic temple, as from the fact that among its twelve constitu- 
ent members were included the two leading races of Greece. 

Constitution of the Delphic Amphictyony. Its twelve members were the 
Thessalians, the Boeotians, the Dorians, the lonians, the Perrliaibians, the 
Magnetes, the Locrians, the Giltreans or ^nianians, the Achaans of Phthia, 
the Phocians, the Dolopians, and the Malians. All the twelve members w^ere 
equal. Meetings were held twice a year, once at Thermopylie and once at 
Delphi. Deputies (called Pylagora and Hieromnemones) represented the 
tribes. 

9. Important movements of some of the principal races 
pcem to have taken place towards the close of the early pe- 
,.. , , . riod. It may be suspected that these had their 

r.vst great mi- J -xx i r^i 

-ratorymove- origin HI the prcssurc upon ilsorth-western (areece 
byilaSic of the Illyrian people, the parent (probably) of 
pressure. ^|^^ modem Albanians. The tribes to the west 

of Pindus were always regarded as less Hellenic than those 
to the east ; and the ground of distinction seems to have 
been the greater Illyrian element in that quarter. The Tro- 
jan War, if a real event, may have resulted from the Illyrian 
pressure, being an endeavor to obtain a vent for a population, 
cramped for room, in the most accessible i:)art of Asia. To 
the same cause may be assigned the great movement which, 
commencing in Epirus (about b.c. 1200), produced a general 
shift of the populations of Northern and Central Hellas. 
Quitting Thesprotia in Epirus, the Thessalians crossed the 
Pindus mountain-chain, and descending on the fertile valley 
of tlie Peneus, drove out the Boeotians, and occupied it. The 
Boeotians proceeded southward over Othrys and CEta into 
the plain of the Cephissus, and driving out the Cadmeians 
and Minyans, acquired the territory to which they thence- 
forth gave name. The Cadmeians andMinyoe dispersed, and 
are found in Attica, in Laceda^mon, and elsewhere. The Do- 
rians at the same time moved from their old home and occu- 
pied Dryopis, which thenceforward was known as Doris, ex- 
pelling the Dryopians, who fled by sea and found a refuge in 
Eubcea, in Cythnus, and in the Peloponnese. 

10. Not many years later a further, but apparently dis- 



PER. n.] MIGRATIONS. I43 

tinct, movement took place. The Dorians, cramped for 
Second move- room in their narrow valleys between (Eta and 
UouoftheDo- Parnassus, having allied themselves with their 
riaus. neighbors, the JEtolians, crossed the Corinthian 

Gulf at its narrowest point, between Rhium and Antirrhium, 
and effected a lodgment in the Peloponnese. Elis, Messenia, 
Laconia, and Argolis were successively invaded, and at least 
partiall}^ conquered. Elis being assigned to the ^tolians, 
Dorian kingdoms were established in the three other coun- 
tries. The previous Achaean inhabitants in part submitted^ 
in part fled northward, and occupied the north coast of the 
Peloponnese, dispossessing the lonians, who found a tempo- 
rary refuge in Attica. 

11. A further result followed from the migrations and 
conquests here spoken of. The population of Greece, find- 
Conseqiien- iug the Continent too narrow for it, was forced to 
meuts?"the ^^^w out into the islands of the Mediterranean 
SafaJin ^^^ ^^^^ shores to which those islands conducted. 
Italy. The Boeotian occupation of the plain of the Ce- 

phissus led to the first Greek settlements in Asia, those 
known as ^olian, in Lesbos and on the adjacent coast. 
The Achaean conquest of Ionia caused the lonians, after a 
brief sojourn in Attica, to pass on through the Cyclades, to 
Chios, Samos, and the parts of Asia directly opposite. Fi- 
nally, the success of the Dorians against the Achaeans caused 
these last to emigrate, in part to Asia under Doric leaders, 
in part to Italy. 

For the history of these settlements, see the following sec- 
tion. 

SECOND PERIOD. 

From the Dorian Conquest of the Peloponnese (about B.C. 1100-1000) to the 
Commencement of the Wars with Persia, B.C. 500. 

Sources. No extant Greek writer gives us the continuous history of tl)is 
period, which has to be gathered from scattered notices in Herodotus, Thucyd- 
ides, Strabo, Pausanias, Plutarch, and other authors. The books of Diodorus 
whicli treated of this period are lost. Some important light is throAvn on it 
by the fragments which remain of contemporary poets, e.g., Tyrtjeus, Callinus, 
and Solon. 

Among modern works embracing the period the most important are the 
Histories of Thirwall and Grote ; to which may be added : 

Wachsmutii, Hellenische Alterthumskunde. Halle, 1826 ; 4 vols. 8vo. 

TiTTMANN, Griechische Staatsverfassung. Leipsic, 1822. 



144 GRECIAN STATES. [ivxxv in. 

Hermann, K. E., Lehrbuch der Griechischen Staatsalterthumer. Heidel- 
berg, 1831 ; 8yo. Translated into English by Talboys. Oxford, 1836. 

NiEBUHR, B. G., Vortrdge, etc. Lectures xxiv. to xxxiv. 

Rawlinson, G,, History of Herodotus. 4 vols. 2d edition. London, 
1862. Two appendices to E'ook V. belong especially to this period. 



PART I. . 

History of the ^rincijjal Hellenic States in Greece Proper. 
1, The history of the Hellenes subsequently to the Dorian 
occupation of the Peloponnese resolves itself into that of the 
Consequences Several States. Still, a few general remarks may 
mi'Jatfonf- be made before proceeding to the special history 
1. Check to" of the more important cities and countries, (a) 
The progress of civilization was, for a time and to 
a certain extent, checked by the migrations and the troubles 
which they brought in their train. Stronger and more en- 
ergetic but ruder races took the place of weaker but more 
polished ones. Physical qualities asserted a superiority over 
grace, refinement, and ingenuity. What the rough Dorians 
were in comparison with the refined Achoeans of the Pelo- 
ponnese, such were generally the conquering as compared 
with the conquered peoples, (b) But against this loss must 
, be set the greater political viojor of the new era. 

?.. Increase of t , . . 

political vig- W ar and movement, bnngmg out the personal 

qualities of each individual man, favored the 
growth of self-respect and self-assertion. Amid toils and 
dangers which were shared alike by all, the idea of political 
equality took its rise. A novel and unsettled state of things 
stimulated political inventiveness ; and, various expedients 
being tried, the stock of political ideas increased rapidly. 
The simple hereditary monarchy of the heroic times was 
succeeded everywhere, except in Epirus, by some more com- 
plicated system of government — some system far more fa- 
vorable to freedom and to the political education of the in- 
dividual, (c) Another natural consequence of the new con- 
^ , , dition of thing^s was the chano-e by which the 

3. Importance . t . . ^ ^ . 

acquired by CiTY acquired its Special dignity and importance. 
The conquerors naturally settled themselves in 
some stronghold, and kept together for their greater securi- 
ty. Each such stronghold became a separate state, holding in 
subjection a certain tract of circumjacent country. At the 



PER. II., PART I.J ARGOS. 145 

same time, the imconquerecl countries also, seeing 

Number of , ', , , -, n •. • t t 

.separate tlie Strength that resnlted irom unity, were mclucecl 

states. .^^ many cases to abolish their old system of village 

life and to centralize themselves by establishing capitals, 
and transferring the bulk of their population to them (avyoi- 
Kheig). This was the case with Athens, Mantinea, Tegea, 
Dyme, etc. (cI) In countries occupied by a single race, but 
broken up into many distinct states, each central- 
of co"u7e\iera" ized in a single city, the idea of political confed- 
^'*^^' oration grew up, sometimes (it may be) suggest- 

ed by a pre-existing amphictyony, but occasionally, it would 
seem, Avithout any such preparative. The federal bond Avas 
in most cases weak; and in BcEotia alone was the union such 
as to constitute permanently a state of first-rate importance. 

On the confederations of Greece, see IVIr. E. A. Freeman's History of 
Federal Government, vol. i. Loudon, 1863. 

2. The subdivision of Greece into a vast number of small 
states, united by no common political bond, and constantly 

at war with one another, did not prevent the 
Gr«ece: its formation and maintenance of a certain general 
causes. Pan-Hellenic feeUng — a consciousness of unity, a 

friendliness, and a readiness to make common cause against 
a foreign enemy. At the root of this feeling lay a convic- 
tion of identity of race. It was further fostered by the pos- 
session of a common language and a common literature ; of 
similar habits and ideas ; and of a common religion, of rites, 
temples, and festivals, which were equally open to all. 

Among the various unifying influences here mentioned, probably the most 
important were the common literature, more especially the poems of Homer, 
and the common festiA-als, more especially tTiose known as the Great Games. 
Homer's grandest and most popular poem represented the Greeks as all en- 
gaged in a common enterprise against a foreign power. The Great Games 
gave to each Greek either one or two occasions in each year when he could 
meet all other Greeks in friendly rivalry, and join Avith them both in religious 
ceremonies and in amusements. On this subject consult Manso, Ueber den 
Antkeil der Griechen an den Olympischen Spielen. Breslau, 1772. 

3. The first state which attained to political importance 
under the new condition of afi*airs in Greece was Argos. 
History of Ar- -'^^'^^^^ Argos, according to the tradition, went 
gos: her early forth the Doriau colouists, who formed settle- 

pre-emiuence. . _ . ^ __ ' ^, , . ,^ . _ 

ments m Epidaurus, Iroezen, Fhhus, hicyon, and 



146 GRECIAN STATES. [book hi. 

Corinth ; while from some of these places a further exten- 
sion of Doric power was made, as from Epidaurus, which 
colonized ^gina and Epidaurus Limera, and from Corinth 
which colonized Megara. Argos, the prolific mother of so 
many children, stood to most of them in tlie relation of pro- 
tectress, and almost of mistress. Her dominion reached, on 
the one hand, to the isthmus ; on the other, to Cape Malea 
and the island of Cythera. For three or four centuries, from 
the Dorian conquest to the death of Pheidon (about b.c. 744), 
she was the leading power of the Peloponnese, a fact which 
she never forgot, and which had an important influence on 
her later history. 

4. The government of Argos was at the first a monarchy 
of the heroic type, the supreme power being hereditary in 
Changes in the house of the Temenidse, supposed descendants 
goverumeut. ^^^^^^^ Temenus the Heracleid, the eldest of the sons 
of Aristomachus. It was not long, however, before aspira- 
tions after political liberty arose, and, the power of the kings 
being greatly curtailed, a government, monarchical in form, 
but republican in reality, was established. This state of 
things lasted for some centuries; but about B.C. 780 to 770, 
on the accession of a monarch of more than ordinary capaci- 
ty, a certain Pheidon, a reaction set in. Pheidon not only 

recovered all the lost royal privileges, but, ex- 
doutB.G.7so-' cecding them, constituted himself the first knoAvn 
^^'** Grecian " tyrant." A great man in every way, he 

enabled Argos to exercise something like a practical he- 
gemony over the whole Peloponnese. Under him, probably, 
were sent forth the colonies which carried the Argive name 
to Crete, Rhodes, Cos, Cnidus, and Halicarnassus. The con- 
nection thus established with Asia led him to introduce into 
Greece coined money — a Lydian invention — and a system of 
weights and measures {(^ei^MPEia fiirpa) believed to have been 
identical with the Babylonian. 

5. After the death of Pheidon, Argos declined in powder ; 
• the ties uniting the confederacy became relaxed; the gov- 

Deciineofthe ernment returned to its previous form; and the 
Argive power, history of the State is almost a blank. No doubt 
the development of Spartan power was the main cause of 
this decline ; but it may be attributed also, in part, to the 
lack of eminent men, and in part to the injudicious severity 



PKR. II., PART I.] SPARTA. 147 

with which Argos treated her perioecic cities and her con- 
federates. 

Petty wars of Argos with Sparta terminate (about B.C. 554) with the loss 
of the region called Cynuria, or the Thyreatis. Was the occupation by 
Sparta of the tract east of Parnon anterior or subsequent to this ? 

6. Among the other states of Greece, the two whose his- 
tory is most ample and most interesting, even during this 
early period, are undoubtedly Sparta and Athens. Every 
" History of Greece " must mainly concern itself with the 
affairs of these two states, which are alone capable of being 
treated with any thing like completeness. 

History of Sparta. 

Authorities. Besides the general treatment of the subject in Histories 
of Greece, special works have been written on the History of Sparta, e.g., 

Cragius, De Republica Lacedceynoniorum lihri quatuor. Geneva;, 1593 ; 
4to. 

MiiViiSiiJS, De Regno Laconico libri duo. Ultraj., 1687; 4to. And-Mis- 
cellanea Laconica. Amstel., 1661 ; 4to. 

Manso, J. C. P., Sparta; ein Versuch zia^ AvfJcldrung der Geschichte und 
Verfassung dieses Staates. Leipsic, 1800 ; 3 vols. 8vo. By for the most 
important work on the subject. Excellent for the time at which it was writ- 
ten, and still of great value to the student. 

Engel, C, De Republica militari, sive coniparatio Lacedcemoniorum, Cre^ 
tensium, et Cosaccorum. Gottingen, 1790. 

7. The Dorians, who in the eleventh century effected a 
lodgment in the upper valley of the Eurotas, occupied at 
History of first a uarrow space between Taygetus and Par- 
coutest with" ^^o"? extending northward no farther than the va- 
Arayciae. rious licad-streams of the Eurotas and ^nus riv- 
ers, and southward only to a little beyond Sparta. This was 
a tract about twenty-five miles long by twenty broad, the 
area of which might be 400 square miles. In the lower val- 
ley, from a little below Sparta to the sea, the Achaean s still 
maintained themselves, having their capital at Amyclae, on 
the Eurotas, within two miles of the chief city of their ene- 
mies. Perpetual war went on between the two powers ; but 
Sparta for the space of three centuries made little or no ad- 
vance southward, Amyclse commanding the valley, and the 
Wars with Ar- fortifications of Amy else defying her incessant at- 
nl% an^d Ar-' tacks. Bafilcd in this quarter, she made attempts 
g"s- to reduce Arcadia, which failed, and even picked 



148 GRECIAN STATES. [book hi. 

quarrels with her kindred states, Messenia and Argos, which 
led to petty wars of no consequence. 

8. The government of Sparta during this period under- 
went changes akin to those whicli took place in Argos. The 
Internal trou- monarchs Were at first absolute; but discontent 
bies. soon manifested itself: concessions were made 
which were again revoked; and the wdiole period was one 
of internal struggle and disturbance. Nor were the differ- 
ences between the kings and their Dorian subjects the only- 
troubles of the time. The submitted Achaeans, of whom 
there were many, were displeased at their treatment, mur- 
mured and even sometimes revolted, and being reduced by 
force of arms were degraded to a lower position. 

Formation of the three chisses into which the Lacedaemonians were divided 
throughout the whole of their subsequent history. 1. The Spartans, or free 
inhabitants of the capital, the sole possessors of political rights and privileges ; 
Dorians by extraction, with few and unimportant exceptions, owners of the 
bulk of the soil, on the rent of which they lived in comfort and independence ; 
2. The Perioeci, or free inhabitants of the country-towns and villages, citizens 
in a certain sense, but without franchise ; possessors of the poorer lands, and 
the only class engaged in trade, commerce, and handicrafts ; Achaeans in 
blood for the most part, but with a slight Doric infusion. 3. The Helots, or 
slave population, composed of captives taken in war (d?iioToc)^ and of submitted 
rebels ; Acha3an mainly in blood till the Messenian wars, after Avhich they may 
be regarded as Achao-Dorians ; chiefly employed in cultivating the lands of 
their Spartan masters, to whom they paid a fixed rent of one-half the produce. 
The third class was insignificant at first, but increased in number as Sparta 
extended her territory, and, upon the conquest of Messenia, became the pre- 
ponderating element in the population. 

Condition of the Helots not without its advantages, but rendered unhappy 
by the cruel institution of the Crypteia, a legalized system of assassination to 
which the government from time to time actually had recourse. 

9. The double monarchy, which, according to the tradi- 
tion, had existed from the time of the conquest, and which 
was peculiar to Sparta among all the Greek states, dated 
really, it is probable, from the time of struggle, being a de- 
vice of those who sought to limit and curtail the royal au- 
thority. The two kings, like the two consuls at Rome, act- 
ed as checks upon each other; and the regal power, thus 
j^p^.g^^,.^^^j divided against itself, naturally became weaker 
Lycurgus, and weaker. It had sunk, evidently, into a shad- 

ow oi Its loriner self, Avhen Lycurgus, a member 
of the royal family, but not in the direct line of succession, 



PER. II., TAUT I.] SPARTA. 149 

gave to Sparta that constitution which raised her in a little 
Avhile to a proud and wonderful eminence. 

Difficulty of distinguishing how much of the Spartan constitution was orig- 
inal, and how much dated from Lycurgus. Tendency to exaggerate the 
extent of his innovations. Original constitution must have included the di- 
vision into three tribes, Hylliei, Dymanes, and Pamphyles, which was com- 
mon to all Dorians, the monarchy, some sort of senate or council, and some 
kind of assembly. Doubtful whether the thirty Oboe were instituted by Ly- 
curgus or no, and therefore doubtful whether he determined the number of 
the Senate. Chief object of his legislation to create and preserve a race of 
vigorous and warlike men. Hence, the introduction of his system of disci- 
pline was of primary importance ; his constitutional changes were altogether 
secondary and by comparison trivial. 

The Lycurgean Constitution may be briefly summed up as follows: — 
1. It maintained the double monarchy, but reduced the power of the kings, 
who became little more than presidents of the senate, Avith a right of proxy 
voting, and a casting vote if the senate was equally divided. 2. It main- 
tained or established the senate of thirty members (twenty-eight and the two 
kings), representing the thirty Obo3, but, from the time of Lycurgus, elected 
by the general assembly of the citizens from among the Spartans who were 
more than sixty years of age. 3. It probably enlarged the powers of the as- 
sembly (oTTt/l/la), which had henceforth not only the right of electing the 
senate, but that of accepting or rejecting all laws, of deciding on peace and 
war, on alliances, etc. 4. It set up for the first time cei'tain officers called 
Ephors, whose business it was to watch over the Lycurgean constitution and 
punish those who infringed it. 

The Lycurgean Discipline comprised the following main points: — 1. 
The decision in every case by state officials of the question whether a child 
should be reared or no. 2. The separation of all male children at the age 
of seven from their homes, and their training and education from that time 
by State educators. The usual branches of Greek education, letters, music, 
and gymnastics, were taught, but the literary part of the education was of 
least, and the gymnastic of far the greatest, account. The boy's time was 
chiefly passed in athletic exercises, then in hunting, and finally in drills, after 
which he was allowed to bear a part in military expeditions. He took his 
meals in public at the syssitia, his fare being both simple and scanty ; he 
slept with his fellows in the public dormitories ; at a certain age he was 
allowed no food except such as he could take without discovery. Every 
thing was done with the object of making him a perfectly efficient soldier. 
3. The men had little more liberty than the boys. They too fed at the 
public messes (avaatria) on the plainest fare, and slept in the public barracks, 
only visiting their homes occasionally, and, as it were, by stealth. Their 
time was fully occupied by State duties, as drills, public hunting expeditions, 
superintendence and training of the boys, and actual warfare. They had no 
private life, and no time to employ in commerce, agriculture, or other profit- 
able occupation. 4. The possession of gold and silver was forbidden, and 
no money allowed to circulate but a hea-\y iron coinage. 5. Girls were 
trained no less carefully than boys, in athletic exercises nearly similar ; but 



150 GRECIAN STATES. [book hi. 

separately, excepting on occasions, when their contests were witnessed by the 
niales. 6. Marriage was superintended by the State. The citizen was for- 
bidden to marry until he was of .ripe age, and was then required to marry 
under a penalty. He chose his own wife ; but if the marriage proved un- 
prolific, he was bound to allow his wife to obtain issue by means of another. 
Other violations of the sanctity of marriage were also allowed under certain 
circumstances, as the bigamy both of men and women ; but, excepting under 
State sanction, incontinency was forbidden and was rare. 

Question of the division of the Lacedaemonian territory by Lycurgus. The 
division unknown to Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Isocrates, Plato, and 
Aristotle. Rests on the authority of Polybius and Plutarch. Intrinsically 
improbable. (Compare Grote, History of Greece, part ii. chap. vi. ) 

10. The adoption of the Lycurgean system had the al- 
most immediate effect of raising Sparta to the first place in 
Rise of Sparta Greece. Amyclse fell in the next generation to 
to power. Lycurgus ; Pharis and Geronthrae submitted soon 
after. A generation later Helos was taken, and the whole 
valley of the Eurotas occupied. The Achaeans submitted, 
or retired to Italy. Wars followed with Arcadia and Argos, 
the latter of whom lost all her territory south of Cynuria. 
Quarrels began with Messenia, which led on to a great 
struggle. 

11. The conquest of Messenia by Sparta, which made her 
at once the dominant power of the Peloponnese, was the re- 
Oon uest of ^"^^ ^^ *^^'^ great wars, each lasting about twenty 
Messenia, B.C. years, and separated from each other by the space 

'7AO A/*C V ' X •/ i. 

of about forty years. The wars seem to haye 
been purely aggressive on the part of Sparta, and to have 
been prompted, in part, by the mere lust of conquest, in part 
by dislike of the liberal policy which the Dorians of Messe- 
nia had adopted towards their Achaean subjects. Despite 
the heroism of the Messenians and the assistance lent them 
by Arcadia and Argos, Sparta gained her object, in conse- 
quence of her superior military organization and training, 
joined to the advantage of her central position, which en- 
abled her to strike suddenly with her full force any one of 
her three foes. 

First Messenian War, b.c. 743 to 724. Long defense of Ithome'. 
Corinth assists Sparta in the war, while Argos, Arcadia, and Sicyon assist 
Messenia. Strength and resources of Messenia gradually exhausted. Itho- 
me evacuated, and resistance discontinued in the twentieth year after the war 
commenced. Many of the inhabitants quit the country, and fly to Arcadia 
and Argolis. Sparta reduces the remainder to the condition of Helots. 



PER. II., PAKT I.] SPARTA. 151 

Second Messenian War, b.c. 685 to G68. Standard of revolt raised by 
Aristomenes, who, assisted by Argos, Arcadia, Sieyon, and Pisatis, defeats 
the Spartans at the "Boar's Tomb," but is afterwards defeated and shut up 
in Eira. Prolonged defense of that fortress. The Spartans, encouraged by 
the Athenian poet Tyrtaus, at length successful. Eira taken. Aristomenes 
flies to Rhodes. The Messenians generally are once more reduced to the 
Helot condition ; but the inhabitants of a few towns are admitted to the po- 
sition of Perioeci. 

12. Closely connected with the Messenian wars were cer- 
tain chano-es in the government and internal condition of 
Sparta, the general tendency of which was to- 
fiS'StUu- wards popularizing the constitution. The con- 
^'""" stant absence of the two kings from Sparta dur- 

ing the Messenian struggle increased the power of the Eph- 
ors, who, when no king was present, assumed that to them 
belonged the exercise of the royal functions. The loss of 
citizens in the wars led to the admission of new blood into 
the state, and probably caused the distinction into two 
classes of citizens {ofiowl and vTrofjeloveg), which is found to ex- 
ist at a later date. The Ephors, elected annually by the 
entire body of the citizens, became the popular element in 
the government; and the gradual augmentation of their 
power was, in a certain sense, the triumph of the popular 
cause. At the same time it must be allowed that the con- 
stitutional changes made did not content the aspirations of 
the democratic party; and that the colony sent out to Ta- 
rentum at once indicated, and relieved, the dissatisfaction of 
the lower grade of citizens. 

Are we to connect with the distinction of ofioiol and vnofieiovec the two 
kKKlriaiai at Sparta, the lesser (// HLKpd) and the greater (// iieydl-n) ? Is 
the former the assembly of the oiioiol only, the latter that of the o}ioL6i and 
vno/ieioveg together ? 

13. The conquest of Messenia was followed by some wars 
of less importance, which tended, however, to increase the 
. power of Sparta, and to render her still more de- 
satis, Arcadia, cidcdly the leading state of Greece. Pisatis and 
coi^ilt'of Triphylia were reduced directly after the close 
the Thyreatis. ^^ ^^iQ sccoud Messcnian war, and were handed 
over to the Eleans. Arcadia was then attacked, but made a 
vigorous resistance ; and the sole fruit of a war which lasted 
three generations was the submission of Tegea. Argos 
about the same time lost the Thyreatis (about b.c. 554) ; and 



152 GRECIAN STATES. [book hi. 

Spartan influence was thus extended over, perhaps, two- 
thirds of the Peloponnese. 

14. Hitherto the efforts and even the views of Sparta had 
been confined to the narrow peninsula within which her 
Kecognitiou own territory Lay ; but the course of events now 
the Feadfng led her to a fuller recognition of her own great- 
Grerce.^^Ex- n^ss, and, as a natural consequence, to active exer- 
vondtheVeio- ^^^"^ ^^^ ^ more extended sphere. The embassy 
poimese. of Croesus in B.C. 555 was the first public acknowl- 

edgment which she received of her importance ; and the 
readiness with Avhicli she embraced the offer of alliance, and 
prepared an expedition to assist the Lydian monarch, indi- 
cates the satisfaction which she felt in the new prospects 
which were opening out on her. Thirty years later (b.c. 
525), she actually sent an expedition, conjointly Avith Cor- 
inth, to the coast of Asia, which failed, however, to effect its 
object, the deposition of Poly crates of Samos. Soon after- 
wards (b.c. 510), she assumed the right of interference in the 
internal aftairs of the Greek states beyond the Peloponnese, 
and by her repeated invasions of Attica, and her efibrts in 
favor of the Athenian oligarchs, sowed the seeds of that fear 
and dislike with which she was for nearly a century and a 
half regarded by the great democratic republic. 

Spartan Kings : — The personal history of the Spartan kings becomes in- 
teresting, and the dates of their several accessions may be fixed with tolera- 
ble certainty, from the time of Cleomenes and his colleague Demaratus. Of 
the previous monarchs Ave know little more than the names. These are — 
I. Elder House of Agidce. 1. Eurysthenes ; 2. Agis (his son ?) ; 3, Eches- 
tratus (his son) ; 4. Labotas (his son) ; 5. Doryssus (his son) ; 6. Agesilaiis 
(his son) ; 7. Archelaus (his son) ; 8. Teleclus (his son) ; 9. Alcamenes (his 
son) ; 10. Polydorus (his son) ; 11. Eurycrates (his son) ; 12. Anaxander 
(his son); 13. Eurycratidas (his son); 14. Leon (his son) ; and 15. Anax- 
andridas (his son). II. Younger House of Eurypontidoe. 1. Procles ; 2. Soiis 
(his son) ; 3. Eurypon (his son ?) ; 4. Prytanis (his son) ; 5. Eunomus (his 
son) ; 6. Polydectes (his son) ; 7. Charilaiis (his son) ; 8. Nicander (his 
son); 9. Theopompus (his son) ; 10, Zeuxidamus (his grandson) ; 11. Anax- 
idamus (his son) ; 12. Archidamus I. (his son) ; 13. Agesicles (his son) ; and 
14. Ariston (his son). These fifteen generations may probably have covered 
a space of nearly five centuries, from about b.c. 1000 to b.c. 520. 

History of Athens. 

Authorities. The History of Athens is best treated in the general works 
on Greek history enumerated above, pp. 137 seq. Besides these, however, 



PKR. II., TAKT I.] ATHENS. 153 

many special works have been written on the History, Chronology, Constitu- 
tion, and Finances of Athens. Among them the following are of importance : 

CoRSiNi, Fasti Attici. Florence, 1744-56 ; 4 vols. 4to. The best work 
on the chronology. 

ScHOMAiiif!, De Cojnitiis Atkeniensium. Gryphisv., 1819 ; 8vo. 

BoECKH, A., Staatsaushaltung der Athener. Berlin, 1817. Translated 
into Enghsh by Sir G. C. Lewis, and published under the title, Public Econo- 
my of Athens. London, 1828 ; 2 vols. 8vo. An excellent work, quite ex- 
haustive of its subject. 

Levesque, Sur la constitution de la Repuhlique d'Athenes, in the fourth 
volume of the Memoires de V Institute pp. 113 et seqq. 

15. The traditional history of Athens commences Avith a 
Kingly Period. Monarchs of the old heroic type are said to 
History of havc governed the country from a time consid- 
Fh^st^orKiug- drably anterior to the Trojan War down to the 
ly, Period. " death of Codrus, B.C. 1300 to 1050. The most 
celebrated of these kings was Theseus, to whom is ascribed 
the avvoiKifffiog, whereby Athens became the capital of a cen- 
tralized monarchy, instead of one out of many nearly equal 
country towns. Another king, Menestheus, was said to have 
fought at Troy. Codrus, the last of the monarchs, fell, ac- 
cording to the tradition, in resisting a Dorian invasion, made 
from the recently conquered Peloponnese. 

Institutions of this Pekiod, Among these must be placed, first of all, 
the division of the whole people into four tribes — Teleontes (or Geleontes), 
Hopletes, ^gicoreis, and Argadeis — which was, perhaps, common to the 
Athenians with all other Ionic peoples, and which appears to imply the e^frly 
existence in Greece of the idea of caste. 2. The subdivisions of the tribes — 
first, into "Brotherhoods" (^parpiat) and "Clans" (>'£v?/) ; and secondly, 
into "Thirdings" (rpirrveg) and " Naucraries " — the former a division be- 
lieved to rest, and probably actually resting, upon the basis of consanguinity ; 
the latter an artificial arrangement made for certain State purposes, as tax- 
ation and miUtary service. 3. The recognition of three classes in the com- 
munity, viz., Nobles (evTcarpidai), Farmers (yeufiopoi), and Artisans (^Tifii- 
ovpyoi), the first of which alone possessed important political power, filling 
all offices of importance, and furnishing the senate or council (JiovTJj), which 
held its sittings on Mars' Hill (Areopagus). The "Farmers" and "Arti- 
sans " had no doubt the right of attending, and expressing assent or dissent, 
in the ayopd, 

16. The Kingly Period was followed at Athens by the 
gradual development of an aristocracy. The Eupatrids had 
Second Peri- acquired power enough under the kings to abolish 
the A?chons monarchy at the death of Codrus, and to substi- 
for life. tute for it the life-archonship, which, though con- 



]54 GRECIAN STATES. [booic hi. 

lined to the descendants of Codrus, was not a royal dignity, 
but a mere chief magistracy. The Eupatrids elected from 
among the qualified persons ; and the archon was, at least in 
theory, responsible. Thirteen such archons held office be- 
fore any further change was made, their united reigns cover- 
ing a space of about three centuries, b.c. 1050 to 752. 

In the earlier part of this period occurred the migration from Attica of the 
lonians, Minyans, Pylians, and other refugees, who during the preceding time 
of disturbance had flocked into the Attic peninsula and there found an asy- 
lum. Otherwise, the Avhole of the period is devoid of historical incident. 

17. On the death of Alcmaeon, the last archon for life, the 
Eupatrids made a further change. Archons were to be elect- 
Third Period, cd for ten years only, so that responsibility could 
DeJeuuiai Ar- ^^ enforced, ex-archons being liable to prosecution 
chous. and punishment. The descendants of Codrus 
were at first preserved in their old dignity; but the fourth 
decennial archon, Hippomanes, being deposed for his cruelty, 
the right of the Medontidga was declared to be forfeited (b.c. 
714), and the office was throAvn open to all Eupatrids. 

18. Finally, after seven decennial archons had held office, 
the supreme power was put in commission (b.c. 684). In lieu 
Fourth Peri- of a single chief magistrate, a board of nine ar- 
theN?neAr- clions, annually elected, was set np, the original 
chons. li^ingly functions being divided among them. The 
aristocracy was now fully installed in power, office being con- 
fined to Eupatrids, and every office being open to all such 
persons, Eupatrids alone having the suflTrage, and the Agora 
itself, or general assembly of the people, having ceased to 
meet, or become purely formal and passive. 

19. The full triumph of the oligarchy did not very long 
precede the first stir of democratic life. Within sixty years 
Popular dis- of the time of complete aristocratical ascendency, 
fsTatfon of"^" popular discontcnt began to manifest itself, and a 
Draco. demand for loritten laws arose, often the earliest 
cry of an oppressed people. Alarmed, but not intimidated, 
the nobles endeavored to crush the rising democratic spirit 
by an unsparing severity ; their answer to the demands made 
on them was the legislation of Draco (b.c. 624), which, by 
making death the penalty for almost all crimes, placed the 
very lives of the citizens at the disposal of the ruling order. 
The increased dissatisfaction which this leorislation caused 



I'Kii. II., I'AKT I.J ATHENS. 155 

Insurrection probably cncouragcd Cjdon to make his rash at- 
tiSkm-s'ieg- tempt (d.c. 612), whicli was easily put down by 
isiatiou. i]^Q oligarchs; who, however, contrived to lose 

gromid by their victory, incurring, as they did in the course 
of it, the guilt of sacrilege, and at the same time exasperating 
the i^eople, who had hoped much from Cylon's effort. Under 
these circumstances, after a vain attempt had been made to 
quiet matters by the purification of Epimenides (b.c. 595), 
and after the political discontent had taken the new and 
dangerous shape involved in the formation of local factions 
(Pedisei, Parali, and Diacrii), Solon, an Eupatrid, but of so 
poor a family that he had himself been engaged in trade, was 
by common consent intrusted with the task of framing a new 
constitution, B.C. 594. h*^^ -, ^ , \^,\i >, *V 

Chief Points of Solon's Legislation :— 1. Main object, to substitute 
for the oppressive oligarchy a moderate government, which should admit all 
Athenian citizens to a share of power, but give a predominating influence to 
the higher orders. This was effected by (a) a division of the people for poUt- 
ical purposes into four classes, according to the amount of their income ; viz., 
the Pentacosiomedimni, or men whose income was of the yearly value of 500 
medimni of com ; the Hippeis (knights), whose income was 300 such medimni ; 
the ZeugitaB, whose income was 150 ; and the Thetes, whose income fell short 
of the last-named amount ; of whom the last (the Thetes) had the suffrage 
only without elegibility to any office, while the highest office of all, the archon- 
ship, which was the only door of admission into the Council of the Areopagus, 
was confined to the Pentacosiomedimni. (6) The institution of a new coun- 
cil, which was in most respects to supersede the old Council of the Areopagus, 
to have the right of initiating legislation, and to form a portion of the execu- 
tive. This council was to consist of 400 members, 100 from each of the old 
tribes, and was to be elected annually by the free votes of all the citizens, (o) 
The revival of a real kKKkijaia^ or assembly of the whole people, which was to 
elect the archons and councillors, to judge {evdvveiv) the former at the ex- 
piration of their year of office, and to accept or reject all the laws and decrees 
proposed by the council, (d) The institution of trial by jury, or the forma- 
tion of popular law-courts, not indeed for the trial of offenses in the first in- 
stance, but for the hearing of appeals from other tribunals, (e) The reten- 
tion of the old Council of the Areopagus, partly as a court of law, the higliest 
tribunal in the State (compare the judicial functions of the English House cf 
Lords), partly as a superintending body (compare the Ephoralty) charged 
with seeing to the observance of the laws, and empowered to prevent or pun- 
ish any departure from them. 2. A secondary object of Solon's legislation 
was to remedy the existing evil of wide-spread poverty and distress. The rule 
of the oligarchy had impoverished the mass of the nation ; and by the opera- 
tion of a harsh and stern law of debt, the lands of the ]joorer cultivators had 
become mortgaged, and numbers of the citizens had sunk into the condition 



156 GRECIAN STATES. [isook hi. 

of slaves. Solon's remedies against these evils were the following : — (a) His 
GeLGdx(^eia, or abolition of debts — not, however, of all debts, but either those 
of a certain class, or those of persons proved insolvent. (6) A debasement 
of the currency, intended to be a reduction of one-fourth, or 25 per cent. ; 
but accidentally a reduction of 27 per cent, (c) The abolition of servitude 
for debt, and the restoration to freedom of all former Athenian citizens not 
sold out of Attica, {d) The encouragement of industry by a provision that 
every father should teach his son a handicraft. It is uncertain how for these 
remedies Avould have had a permanent success. The rapid advance in the 
material prosperity of Athens, Avhich folloAved quite independently of them, 
prevented the trial from being made, and at the same time rendered it un- 
necessary to recur again to such questionable expedients as cancelling debts 
and debasing the coin. 

20. The legislation of Solon, wise as it seems to moderns, 
was far from satisfying his contemporaries. Like most mod- 
stru crie of ci'^te politicians, he was accused by one party of 
parties termi- havins; o;one too far, bv another of not havinor 

uatecl by the » o . * . , 

tyranny of Pi- done cnough. His personal influence sufticed for 
sistratus. ^ ^j^^^ ^^ restrain the discontented; but when 
this influence was withdrawn (about B.C. 570), violent con- 
tentions broke out. The local factions (see §19) revived. 
A struggle commenced between a reactionary party under 
Lycurgus, a conservative party under the Alcmgeonid Mega- 
cles, and a party of progress under Pisistratus, which termi- 
nated in the triumph of the last-named leader, who artfully 
turned his success to his own personal advantage by assum- 
ing the position of Dictator, or (as the Greeks called it) Ty- 
rant, B.C. 560. 

Dynasty of the PisiSTRATiDyii : — 1. Reign of Pisistratus. His first ex- 
altation, B.C. 560. Flight of the Alcmceonidee. Pisistratus in his turn driven 
into exile, about B.C. 554. Re-establisheshimself by arrangement with Meg- 
acles, about b.c. 548. Offends Megacles, and is again forced to fly, about 
B.C. 547. Re-establishes himself by force of arms, about b.c. 537, and con- 
tinues tyrant for the rest of his life. Reigns mildly, encourages the arts, and 
edits Homer. Dies, B.C. 527. Succeeded by his eldest son, Hippias. 2. 
Reign of Hippias, b.c. 527 to 510. Mui'der of Hippai-chus, his brother, by 
Harmodius and Aristogeiton, b.c. 514. Intrigues of the exiled Alcmteonidai, 
who bribe the Delphic oracle, and thereby induce the Spartans to dethrone 
Hippias. After the first attempt, under Anchimolius, had failed, Cleomenes, 
in B.C. 510, forces the Pisistratidaj to withdraw from the city. 

21. The expulsion of the tyrant Avas followed by fresh 
troubles. A contest for power arose between Isagoras, the 
Fresh troub- fi"iend of Cleomenes, and Clisthenes, the head of 
^^^' the Alcmseonid family, which terminated in iavor 



PER. II. , TART I . ] ATHENS. 1 5 7 

of the latter, despite the armed interference of Sparta. Clis- 
thenes, however, had to purchase his victory by an alliance 
Constitution ^^i^h the democratical party ; and the natural re- 
of ciistheues. g^it of his success was a further change in the 
constitution, which was modified in a democratic sense. 

Chief Points of the Constitution of Clisthenes : — (a) Admission 
to citizenship of all free inhabitants of Attica, whether members of the old 
tribes or not. (6) Supersession of the old tribes for political purposes by the 
new tribes, ten in number (each embracing ten demes, or country towns, with 
their adjacent districts), now for the first time established by the legislator, 
(c) Substitution of a council of five hundred, fifty from each of the ten tribes, 
for the Solonian council of four hundred, (d) Counteraction of the tendency 
to local factions by the inclusion within each tribe of demes remote from each 
other, (e) Fresh organization of the law courts (SiKaav^pia), and extension 
of their functions. (/) Introduction of the Octracism. (g) Introiluction of 
the principle of determining betAveen the candidates for certain offices by lot. 
(A) Institution of the ten annual Strategi, who in a little time superseded the 
archons as the chief executive officers. 

22. The establishment of democracy gave an impulse to 
the spirit of patriotism, which resulted almost immediately 
„.,., in some splendid military successes. Athens had 

Military sue- ^ . •' , . 

cesses of Ath- lor some time been growing in warlike j^ower. 
Under Solon she had taken Salamis from Megara, 
and played an important part in the first Sacred War (b.c. 
600 to 591). About B.C. 518, or a little earlier, she had ac- 
cepted the protectorate of the Platceans. Now (b.c. 507) be- 
ing attacked at one and the same time by Sparta, by Boeotia, 
and by the Chalcideans of Euboea, she completely triumphed 
over the coalition. The Spartan kings quarrelled, and the 
force under their command withdrew without risking a bat- 
tle. The Boeotians and Chalcideans were signally defeated. 
Chalcis itself was conquered and occupied. A naval strug- 
gle with ^gina, the ally of Boeotia, followed, during the 
continuance of which the first hostilities took place between 
Athens and Persia. Proud of her recent victories, and con- 
fident in her strength, Athens complied with the request of 
Aristagoras, and sent twenty ships to support the revolt 
which threatened to deprive the Great King of the whole 
sea-board of Asia Minor. Though the burning of Sardis 
was followed by the defeat of Ephesus, yet the Persian 
monarch deemed his honor involved in the further chastise- 
ment on her own soil of the audacious power which had pre- 



158 GRECIAN STATES. [hook hi. 

sumed to invade his dominions. An attempt to conquer 
Greece would, no doubt, have been made even without prov- 
ocation ; but the part taken by Athens in the Ionic revolt 
precij^itated the struggle. It was well that the contest 
came when it did. Had it been delayed until Athens had 
grown into a rival to Sparta, the result might have been 
different. Greece might then have succumbed ; and Euro- 
pean freedom and civilization, trampled under foot by the 
hordes of Asia, might have been unable to recover itself. 

PART II. 

History of the other Grecian States. 

SouKCES. The data for the history of the other states are scanty. They 
consist chiefly of scattered notices in Herodotus, Thucydides, and the geog- 
raphers. Light is occasionally thrown on the constitutional history of the 
states by Aristotle. Inscriptions also are, in many cases, of importance. 
Among the most valuable collections of these are : 

Chishull, Inscriptiones Asiaticce. London, 1728 ; folio. 

BoECKH, Corpus InscrijJtionum Grcecarum. Berlin, 1828-43 ; 3 vols, folio. 
A magnificent work. 

Rose, Inscriptiones Grcecce vetustissimce. Cambridge, 1825 ; 8vo. 

The history of the smaller states will be most convenient- 
ly given under the five heads of {a) the Peloponnesian 
States ; {b) the States of Central Greece ; (c) those of North- 
ern Greece ; {cI) those situated in the islands ; and (e) those 
which either were, or were regarded as, colonies. 

A. Smaller Peloponnesian States. 

i. Achma. The traditions said that when the Dorians conquered Sparta, 
the Spartan king Tisamenus, son of Orestes, led the Achaeans northward, 
and, expelling the lonians from the tract Avhich lay along the Corinthian 
Gulf, set up an Achaean kingdom in those parts, which lasted for several 
generations. Ogygus, however, the latest of these monarchs, having left be- 
hind him sons of a tyrannical temper, the Achasans destroyed the monarchy, 
and set up a federal republic. Twelve cities composed the league, which 
were originally Pellene, iEgeira (or Hyparesia), ^gae, Bura, Helice, ^gium, 
Rhypes, Patrse, Pharae, Olenus, Dyme, and Tritasa, all situated on or near the 
coast except the last two, which Avere in the interior. The common place of 
meeting for the league was Helice, where an annual festival was held, and 
common sacrifices were offered to Heliconian Neptune. The constitution of 
the several cities is said to have been democratic. The league was, no 
doubt, political as well as religious ; but no details are known of it. Accord- 
ing to Polybius it was admired for its fairness and equality, and was taken 
as a model by the cities of Magna Greecia in the early part of the fifth centu- 



PEK. II., PART II.] ACH^A. 159 

ry. We may gather from Thucydides that it was of tlie loose type so com- 
mon in Greece. The Achaians seem to have manifested in the early times a 
disposition to stay at home and to keep aloof from the quarrels of their neigh- 
bors. Hence the history of the country scarcely begins till the time of An- 
tigonus, from which period the league formed a nucleus round which inde- 
pendent Greece rallied itself. 

ii. Arcadia. The Arcadians were regarded as aboriginal inhabitants of 
their country. They called themselves irpoaElrjvoi. The Dorian conquests 
in the Peloponnese left them untouched ; and they retained to a late date, in 
their remote valleys and cold high mountain pastures, very primitive habits. 
The tradition makes the entire country form, in the old times, a single mon- 
archy, which continues till B.C. 668 ; but it may be doubted whether there 
had really ever existed in Arcadia any thing more than an Amphictyonic 
union prior to Epaminondas. The whole country is physically broken up 
into separate valleys and basins, whose inhabitants would naturally form sep- 
arate and distinct communities, while retaining a certain sense of ethnic re- 
lationship. The most important of these communities were Mantinea and 
Tegea, neighboring towns, between which there were frequent wars. Next 
to these may be placed Orchomenus, Pheneus, and Stymphalus towards the 
north-east; Cleitor and Herasa towards the west; and Phigaleia, on tl:e 
north-western border, near Messenia. The Arcadians, however, loved vil- 
lages rather than towns ; and the numerous population was chiefly located in 
small hamlets scattered about the mountains. Arcadia was subject to con- 
stant aggressions at the hands of Sparta, which she sought to revenge upon 
fitting occasions. These aggressions began in the times previous to Lycur- 
gus (see p. 147), and continued afterwards almost constantly. In retaliation, 
the Arcadians assisted Messenia throughout both the Messenian wars. Te- 
gea, as the nearest state to Sparta, suffered most at her hands ; and after a 
long struggle, it would seem that Arcadia generally (about b.c. 560) ac- 
knowledged the Lacedaemonian hegemony, placing her fuU military strength 
at the disposal of Sparta in her wars, but retaining her internal independ- 
ence. Mantinea even, upon occasions, thwarted the policy of Sparta. 

iii. Corinth. Corinth, a rich and famous city even in the times anterior to 
the Doric conquests, was occupied by Dorian settlers from Argos soon after 
the reduction of that state. A monarchy was established under kings who 
claimed descent from Hercules, twelve such rulers holding the throne during 
the space of 327 years. At the end of this time monarchy was exchanged 
for oligarchy, power remaining (as at Athens) in the hands of a branch of the 
royal family, the Bacchiadee, who intermarried only among themselves, and 
elected each year from their own body a Prytanis, or chief magistrate. This 
state of things continued for ninety years, when a revolution Avas effected by 
Cypselus, who, having ingratiated himself with the people, rose up against the 
oligarchs, expelled them, and made himself tyrant. Cypselus reigned from 
B.C. 657 to 627, when he was succeeded by his son, Periander, who reigned 
from B.C. 627 to 587. A third monarch of the dynasty, Psammetichus, the 
nephew or grandson of Periander, mounted the throne, but was expelled, after 
a reign of three years, by the people, perhaps assisted by Sparta, B.C. 584. 
The time of the Cypselids was one of great material wealth and prosperity ; 
literature and the arts flourished ; commerce was encouraged ; colonies were 



160 GRECIAN STATES. [book hi. 

sent out ; and the hegemony of the mother country over her colonies success- 
fully asserted. (The chief Corinthian settlements were Corcyra, Ambracia, 
Leucas, Anactorium, Epidamnus, ApoUonia, Syracuse, and Potidaa. Of 
these, Ambracia, Leucas, Anactorium, Epidamnus, Apollonia, and Potidtea 
were content to be subject. Corcyra generally asserted independence, but 
was forced to submit to the Cypselids. Syracuse must have been from the 
first practically independent.) After the downfall of the tyrants, who are 
said to have ruled harshly, a republic was established on a tolerably wide 
basis. Power was placed in the hands of the wealthy class ; and even com- 
merce and trade were no bars to the holding of office. Corinth became one 
of the richest of the Greek states ; but, as she increased in wealth, she sank 
in political importance. Regard for her material interests induced her to ac- 
cept the protection of Sparta, and from about b.c. 550 she became merely the 
second power in the Spartan league, a position which she occupied with slight 
interruptions till b. c. 394. 

iv. Elis. The settlement of the iEtolo-Dorians under Oxylus (see p. 143) 
had been made in the more northern portion of the country, between the La- 
risus and the Ladon or Selleis. The region south of this as far as the Neda 
remained in the possession of the old inhabitants, and was divided into two 
districts, Pisatis, or the tract between the Ladon and the Alpheus, of which 
Pisa was the capital, and Triphylia, the tract between the Alpheus and the 
Neda, of which the chief city Avas Lepreum. The Eleans, however, claimed 
a hegemony over the whole country; and this claim gave rise to frequent 
wars, in which the Eleans had the advantage, though they never succeeded 
in completely absorbing even Pisatis. The chief importance of Elis was de- 
rived from the celebration within her territory of the Olympic Games, a festi- 
val originally Pisan,'of which the direction was assumed by the Eleans, but 
constantly disputed by the Pisatans. Sparta in the early times supported 
the Elean claims ; but in and after the Peloponnesian struggle it became her 
policy to uphold the independence of Lepreum. The Eleans dwelt chiefly in 
villages till after the close of the great Persian War, when the city of Elis 
was first founded, B.C. 477. 

V. Sicyon. Sicyon was believed to have been one of the oldest cities in 
Greece, and to have had kings of its own at a very remote period. Homer, 
however, represents it as forming, at the time of the Trojan War, part of the 
dominions of Agamemnon. Nothing can be said to be really knoAvn of Sic- 
yon until the time of the Doric immigration into the Peloponnese, when it 
was occupied by a body of Dorians from Argos, at whose head was Phalces, 
son of Temenus. A Heracleid monarchy was established in the line of this 
prince's descendants, which was superseded after some centuries by an oH- 
garchy. Power during this period was wholly confined to the Dorians ; the 
native non-Doric element in the population, which was numerous, being des- 
titute of political privilege. But towards the beginning of the seventh cen- 
tury B.C. a change occurred. Orthagoras, a non-Dorian, said to have been 
by profession a cook, subverted the oligarchy, established himself upon the 
throne, and quietly transferred the predominance in the state from the Dori- 
an to the non-Dorian population. He left his throne to his posterity, who 
ruled for above a hundred years. Clisthenes, the last monarch of the line, 
adding insult to injury, changed the names of the Dorian tribes in Sicyon 



PER. II., rAUT 11. j MEGARIS, ETC. 101 

from Hyllaei, Dymanes, and Pamphyli, to Hyatae, Oneatae, and ChtereataD, or 
"Pig- folk," "Ass-folk," and "Swine-folk." He reigned from about b.c. 
595 to 560. About sixty years after his death, the Dorians in Sicyon seem 
to have recovered their preponderance, and the state became one of the most 
submissive members of the Lacedaemonian confederacy. 



B. Smaller States of Central Greece. 

i. Megaris. Megaris was occupied by Dorians from Corinth, shortly after 
the great immigration into the Peloponnese. At first the colony seems to 
have been subject to the mother countiy ; but this subjection was soon 
thrown off, and we find Corinth fomenting quarrels among the various Me- 
garian towns — Megara, Heraea, Peiraea, Tripodiscus, and Cynosura — in the 
hope of recovering her influence. About B.C. 72G the Corinthians seem to 
have made an attempt at conquest, which was repulsed by Orsippus, the 
Olympian runner. Nearly at the same time commenced the series of Mega- 
riau colonies, which form so remarkable a feature in the history of this state. 
The first of these was Megara Hybleea, near Syracuse, founded (according to 
Thucydides) in b.c. 728, from which was sent out a sub-colony to Selinus; 
then followed Chalcedon, in b.c. G74 ; Byzantium, in b.c. G57 ; Selymbria, 
in B.C. 662 ; Heraclea Pontica, in B.C. 559 ; and Chersonesus, near the mod- 
em Sebastopol, not long afterwards. The naval power of Megara must have 
been considerable ; and it is not smprising to find that about this time ("b.c. 
600) she disputed with Athens the possession of Salamis. Her despot, The- 
agenes, was an enterprising and energetic monarch. Rising to power as the 
representative of the popular cause (about b.c. 630), he supported his son-in- 
law, Cylon, in his attempt to occupy a similar position at Athens. (See p. 
155.) He adorned Megara with splendid buildings. He probably seized 
Salamis, and gained the victories which induced the Athenians for a time to 
put up with their loss. On his deposition by the oligarchs (about b.c. 600), 
the war Avas renewed — Nisaea was taken by Pisistratus, and Salamis recover- 
ed by Cylon. The oligarchs ruled Avithout bloodshed, but still oppressively ; 
so that shortly afterwards there was a second democratic revolution. Debts 
were now aboHshed, and even the return of the interest paid on them exacted 
(TTaTiivToidd). The rich were forced to entertain the poor in their houses. 
Temples and pilgrims are said to have been plundered. Vast numbers 'of 
the nobles were banished. At length the exiles were so numerous that they 
formed an army, invaded the country, and, reinstating themselves by force, 
established a somewhat narrow oligarchy, which ruled at least till b.c. 460. 

ii. Boeotia. When the Boeotians, expelled from Arne by the Thessahans, 
settled in the countiy to which they henceforth gaA'e name, expelling from it 
in their turn the Cadmaeans, Minyae, etc., they seem to have divided them- 
selves into as many states as there were cities. What the form of govern- 
ment in the several states was at first is uncertain ; we can only say that 
there is no trace of monarchy, and that as soon as we obtain a glimpse of 
the internal affairs of any of them, they are oligarchical republics. The num- 
ber of the states seems to have been originally fourteen, but by the time of 
the Peloponnesian War it had dwindled to ten, partly by a process of absorp- 
tion, partly by separation. Oropus, Eleuthera^, and Plataia had been lost to 



162 GRECIAN STATES. [book hi. 

Athens ; Chseroneia had been incorporated with Orchomenus ; the remaining 
ten states were Thebes, Orchomenus, Thespia, Lebadeia, Coroneia, Copee, 
Ilahartus, Tanagra, Anthedon, and perhaps Chaha. Between these states 
there had existed, probably from the first, an Amphictyony, or religious 
union, wKich had the temple of Itonian Athene near Coroneia for its centre ; 
and there took place once a year the celebration of the Pamboeotia, or gen- 
eral festival of the Boeotians. By degrees, out of this religious association 
there grew up a federal union ; the states recognized themselves as constitu- 
ting a single political unit, and arranged among themselves a real federal 
government. The supreme authority was placed in the hands of a council 
(jSovh'/), Avhich had a curious fourfold division ; while the executive func- 
tions were exercised by eleven Boeotarchs (two from Thebes, one from each 
of the other cities), who were at once the generals of the league and its pre- 
siding magistrates. Though the place of meeting for the council seems to 
liave been Coroneia, yet Thebes by her superior size and power obtained an 
undue predominance in the confederation, and used it in such a way as to 
excite the jealousy and disaffection of almost all the other cities. As early 
as B.C. 510, Platcea was driven to detach herself from the confederation, and 
to put herself under the protection of Athens. In later times Thespiai made 
more than one attempt to follow the Plataan example, B.C. 423 and 414. 
The readiness of Athens to receive and protect revolted members of the 
league was among the causes of that hostility which Boeotia was always 
ready to display towards her ; and the general tendency of members of the 
league to revolt was among the chief causes of that political weakness which 
Boeotia exhibits, as compared with Athens and Sparta. 

iii. Phocis. There can be no doubt that Phocis was, like Boeotia, a con- 
federation ; but from the comparative insignificance of the state no details 
of the constitution have come down to us. The place of meeting for the 
deputies seems to have been an isolated building (^rd ^ukikov) on the route 
from Daulis to Delphi. No Phocian city had any such preponderance as 
belonged to Thebes among the cities of Boeotia, and hence the league ap- 
pears to have been free from those perpetual jealousies and heartburnings 
which we remark in the neighboring country. Still certain secessions from 
the confederacy appear to have taken place, as that of Delphi, and, again, 
that of Cirrha, which was a separate state about B.C. 600. A constant 
enmity existed between Phocis and Thessaly, consequent upon the attempts 
made by the Thessalians from time to time to conquer the country. These 
attempts were successfully resisted ; but they were so far injurious to the in- 
dependence of Phocis, that they produced a tendency to lean on Boeotia and 
to look to her for aid. Still, the military history of Phocis down to the close 
of the Persian War is creditable to the nation, which frequently repulsed the 
invasions of the Thessalians, and which offered a brave resistance to the 
enormous host of Xerxes. 

iv. Locris. There Avere three countries of this name ; and though a certain 
ethnic connection between them may be assumed from the common appella- 
tion, yet politically the three countries appear to have been entirely separate 
and distinct. The Locri Ozolaj (the " stinking Locri ") possessed the largest 
and most important tract, that lying between Parnassus and the Corinthian 
Gulf, bounded on the west by ^tolia. They probably formed a confederacy 



PER. II., PART II.] TIlIvSSALY, ETC. 163 

under the presidency of Amphissa. The Locri Epicnemidii, or Locrians of 
Mount Cnemis, and the Locri Opuntii, or those of Opus, were separated from 
their western brethren by the whole breadth of the territory of Phocis. They 
Avere also sei)arated from each other, but only by a narrow strip or tongue of 
Phocian territory, which ran down to the Euripus at the town of Daphnus. 
Of the internal organization of the Epicnemidii we know nothing. The Opun- 
tians were probably a confederacy under the hegemony of Opus. 

V. u^tolia. iEtolia, the country of Diomed, though famous in the early 
times, fell back during the migratory period almost into a. savage condition, 
probably through the influx into it of an lUyrian population .which became 
only partially Hellenized. The nation was divided into numerous tribes, 
among which the most important were the Apodoti, the Ophioneis, the Eu- 
rytanes, and the Agrseans. There were scarcely any cities, village life being 
preferred universally. No traces appear of a confederation of the tribes until 
the time of Alexander, though in times of danger they could unite for pur- 
poses of defense against the common enemy. The Agrteans, so late as the 
Peloponnesian War, were under the government of a king : the political con- 
dition of the other tribes is unknown. It was not till the wars which arose 
among Alexander's successors that the ^tolians formed a real political union, 
and became an important power in Greece. 

vi. Acarnania. The Acarnanians were among the more backward of the 
Greek nations in the historical times, but they were considerably more ad- 
vanced than the ^tolians. They possessed a number of cities, among which 
the most important were Stratus, Amphilochian Argos, and CEniadaj. From 
a very remote date they had formed themselves into a federation, which not 
only held the usual assemblies for federal purposes (probably at Stratus), but 
had also a common Court of Justice (^dtKaarr^piov') for the decision of causes, 
at Olpse. There was great jealousy between the native Acarnanians and 
the colonies planted by the Corinthians on or near their coasts, Ambracia, 
Leucas, Anactorium, Sollium, and Astacus, which in the early times certainly 
did not belong to the league. The league itself was of the lax character 
usual in Greece, and allowed of the several cities forming their own alliances, 
and even taking opposite sides in a war. 

C. States of Northern Greece. 

i. Thessaly. The Thesprotian conquerors of Thessaly established a con- 
dition of things in that country not very unlike that which the Dorians in- 
troduced into Laconia. The conquerors themselves formed a noble class 
which claimed the ownership of most of the territory and confined to itself 
the possession of political power. The conquered were reduced to two very 
different positions : some retained their personal freedom and the right to 
their lands, but were made subject to tribute; others (the Penestce) were 
reduced to the condition of serfs, cultivating the lands of their masters, but 
were protected in their holdings, could not be sold out of the country, and 
both might and did often acquire considerable property. ■ Tlie chief differ- 
ences between the two countries were (1) that in Thessaly the intermediate 
class, Achceans, Magnetes, Perrhagbi, etc. , instead of being scattered over the 
country and intermixed with the nobles and serfs, were the sole occupants 



164 GRECIAN STATES. [book hi. 

of certain districts, retained their old ethnic name, their Amphictyonic vote, 
and their governmental organization ; and (2) that the conquerors, instead 
of concentrating themselves in one city, took possession of several, establish- 
ing in each a distinct and separate goverament. The governments seem to 
have been originally monarchies, which merged in aristocracies, wherein one 
family held a quasi-royal position. The Aleuadte at Larissa and Pharsa- 
lus (?) and the Scopadae at Cranon correspond closely to the Medontidas at 
Athens (see page 154). A federal tie of the weakest character united the 
several states of Thessaly in ordinary times ; but upon occasions this extreme 
laxity was replaced by a most stringent centralization. A Tagus (Com- 
mander-in-Chief) of all Thessaly was appointed, who exercised powers little 
short of despotic over the whole country. Such, apparently, Avas the power 
wielded (about B.C. 510) by Cineas, and such beyond all question was the do- 
minion of Jason ofPherae, and his three brothers, Polydorus, Polyphron, and 
Alexander, b.c. 380 to 356. In the remoter times Thessaly was aggressive 
and menaced the independence of the states of Central Greece ; but from the 
dawn of exact history to the time of Jason her general policy was peaceful, 
and, except as an occasional ally of Athens, she is not found to have taken 
any part in the internal quarrels of the Greeks. Her aristocracies were self- 
ish, luxurious, and devoid of patriotic feeling : content with their position at 
home, they did not desire the glory of foreign conquest. Thus Thessaly 
plays a part in the history of Greece very disproportioned to her power and 
resources, not rising into any importance till very shortly before the Mace- 
donian period. 

ii. Epirus. Anterior to the Persian Avars, and indeed until the time of 
Philip of Macedon, Epirus Avas a mere geographical expression, designating 
no ethnic nor political unity. The tract so called was parcelled out among 
a number of states, some of Avhich Avere Greek, others barbarian. Of these 
the chief Avere : (1) the semi-barbarous kingdom of the Molossians, ruled 
over by a family Avhich claimed descent from Achilles — a constitutional mon- 
archy, Avhere the king and people alike swore to observe the laws ; (2) the 
kingdom of the Orestas, barbarian ; (3) the kingdom of the Parausei, likeAvise 
barbarian ; (1) the republic of the Chaonians, barbarian, administered by two 
annual magistrates chosen out of a single ruling family ; (5) the republic of 
the Thesprotians, barbarian ; and (6) the Ambracian republic, Greek, a col- 
ony and dependency of Corinth. By alliance Avith Philip of Macedon, the 
Molossian kings Avere enabled to bring the Epirotic states under their do- 
minion, about B.C. 350. After their foil, b.c. 239, Epirus became a federal 
republic' 

D. Greek Insular States. 

i. Corcym. Corcyra, the most western of the Greek islands, was colonized 
from Corinth about b.c. 730. From the fertility of the island, and the ad- 
vantages of its situation, the settlement soon became important : a jealousy 
sprang up between it and the mother country, Avhich led to hostilities as early 
as B.C. 670. During the rule of the Cypselid princes at Corinth, Corcyra 
was forced to submit to them ; but soon after their fall independence was 
recovered. From this time till the commencement of the Peloponnesian 
War, the commerce and naval poAver of Corcyra Avent on increasing ; so early 



PER. II., PART II.] ISLANDS. 165 

as the time of the invasion of Xerxes (b.c. 480) their navy was the second in 
Greece, and just before the Peloponnesian War it amounted to 120 triremes. 
The government was a republic, which fluctuated between aristocracy and 
democracy ; party spirit ran high ; and both sides were guilty of grievous 
excesses. On the connection of Corcyra with Athens, see p. 203. 

ii. Cephallenia. This island, though considerably larger than Corcyra, 
and exceedingly fertile, was politically insignificant. It contained four cities, 
each of which was a distinct state, Pale, Cranii, Same, and Pronus or Pro- 
nesus. Probably the four were united in a sort of loose confederation. Pale 
seems to have been the most important of the cities. 

iii, Zacynthus, which was originally peopled by Achasans from the Pelo- 
ponnese, formed an independent state till the time of the Athenian confed- 
eracy. It had a single city, of the same name with the island itself, and is 
chiefly noted in the early ages as furnishing an asylum to fugitives from 
Sparta. 

iv. ^gina is said to have been occupied by Dorian colonists from Epi- 
daurus shortly after the invasion of the Peloponnese, It was at first com- 
pletely dependent on the mother country ; but, growing in naval power, it in 
a little time shook off the yoke, and became one of the most flourishing of 
the Grecian communities. The ^^ginetans early provoked the jealousy of 
Samos, and a war followed between the two powers, which had no very im- 
portant consequences. About n.c. 500, ^gina found a more dangerous rival 
in her near neighbor, Athens, Avhose growing greatness she endeaA'ored to 
check, in combination with Boeotia. A naval war, which lasted about twenty 
years, was teiTninated, b.c. 481, by the common danger which threatened all 
Greece from the armament collected by Xerxes, ^gina played an important 
part in the Persian stniggle ; but still it was one of the effects of the war to 
exalt her rival, Athens, to a very decided pre-eminence above all the other 
naval powers of Greece. Not content, hoAvever, with mere preponderance, 
Athens, on breaking with Sparta, b.c. 461, proceeded to crush ^gina, which 
resisted for four years, but in B.C. 457 became an Athenian dependency. 

K. O. MiJLLER, yEgineticorum liber. Berlin, 1817 ; 8vo. This work con- 
tains, besides the political history, an account of ^ginetan commerce and art. 

CocKERELL, Temphs of JEgina and Bassce. London, 1860 ; folio. Con- 
tains a full account of the discoveries made in the island by the author and 
others in 1811 and 1812. The sculptures obtained by the exploring party 
are in the Glyptothek at Munich. 

V. Euboea. This large island contained a number of separate and inde- 
pendent states, whereof the two most important were Eretria and Chalcis. 
These cities rose to eminence at an early period, and contended together in a 
great war, wherein most of the Greeks of Europe, and even some from Asia, 
took part. The balance of advantage seems to have rested with Chalcis, 
which in the later times always appears as the chief city of the island. Chal- 
cis sent out numerous and important colonies, as Cuma and Rhegium in Italy ; 
Naxos, Leontini, Catana, and Zancle' in Sicily ; Olynthus, Torone, and many 
other places on the coast of Thrace. Its constitution was oligarchical, the 
chief powder being lodged in the hands of the " Horse-keepers " (i7r7ro/3dra/), 
or Knights. About B.C. 500, Chalcis was induced to join the Spartans and 
Boeotians in an attempt to crush Athens, which failed, and cost Chalcis its 



166 GRECIAN STATES. [book hi. 

independence. The lands of the Hippobotse Avere confiscated, and an Athe- 
nian colony established in the place. Chalcis, together with the rest of 
Eubcea, revolted from Athens in B.C. 445, but was again reduced by Pericles. 
In the Peloponnesian War, b.c. 411, better success attended a second eifort. 

vi. The Cyclades. These islands are said to have been originally peopled 
by Carians from Asia Minor ; but about the time of the great migrations (b.c. 
1200 to 1000) they were occupied by the Greeks, the more noi'thern by Ionian, 
the more southern by Dorian adventurers. After a while an Ionian Amphicty- 
ony grew up in the northern group, having the islet of Delos for its centre, and 
the Temple of Apollo there for its place of meeting ; whence the position oc- 
cupied by Delos on the formation of the Athenian confederacy. The largest, 
and, politically speaking, most important of the Cyclades were Andros and 
Naxos ; the former of which founded the colonies of Acanthus, Sane, Ar- 
gilus, and Stageirus in Thrace, while the latter repulsed a Persian attack in 
B.C. 501, and contended against the whole force of Athens in b.c. 466. Pa- 
ros, famous for its marble, may be placed next to Andros and Naxos. It 
was the mother city of Thasos, and of Pharos in Illyria. Little is known of 
l]ie constitutional history of any of the Cyclades. Naxos, however, seems to 
l.vve gone through the usual course of Greek revolutionary change, being 
j;jverned by an oligarchy until the time of Lygdamis (b.c. 540 to 530), who, 
pi ofessing to espouse the popular cause, made himself king. His tyranny did 
not last long, and an oligarchy was once more established, Avhich in its turn 
gave way to a democracy before b.c. 501. 

vii. Lemnos. This island, which had a Thracian population in the earliest 
times and then a Pelasgic one, was first Hellenized after its conquest, about 
B.C. 500, by the great Miltiades. It was from this time regarded as an Athe- 
nian possession, and seems to have received a strong body of colonists from 
Athens. Lemnos contained two towns, Hephsestia and Myrina, Avhich form- 
ed separate states at the time of the Athenian conquest. Hepheestia was at 
that time under a king. 

viii. Thasos, which was peculiarly rich in minerals, was early colonized by 
the Phoenicians, who Avorked the mines A^ery successfully. lonians from Pa- 
ros Hellenized it about B.C. 720 to 700, and soon raised it into a poAverful 
state. Settlements were made by the Thasians upon the main-land opposite 
their northern shores, whereof the most important Avere Scapte-Hyle and 
Datum. The gold-mines in this quarter Avere largely Avorked, and in B.C. 
492 the Thasians had an annual revenue of from 200 to 300 talents (£48,000 
to £72,000). In B.C. 494, Histiajus of Miletus attempted to reduce the isl- 
and, but failed ; it Avas, hoAvever, in the foUoAA^ing year forced to submit to 
the Persiiuis. On the defeat of Xerxes, Thasos became a member of the 
Athenian confederacy, but revolting, b.c. 465, was attacked and forced to 
submit, B.C. 463. In the Peloponnesian War another revolt (b.c. 411) AA'as 
again followed by submission, b.c. 408, and Thasos thenceforth continued, 
except for short intervals, subject to Athens. 

ix. Crete. The population of Crete in the early times Avas of a very mix- 
ed character. Homer enumerates among its inhabitants Achaeans, Eteocre- 
tes, Cydonians, Dorians, and Pelasgi. Of these the Eteocretes and Cydoni- 
ans were even farther removed than the Pelasgi from the Hellenic type. In 
the early clays the Cretans Avere famous pirates, Avhence probably the tradi- 



PER. II., TART II. j ISLANDS. 167 

tions of Minos and his naval power. Whether the Dorian population was 
really settled in the island from a remote antiquity, or reached Crete from the 
Peloponnese after the Dorian conquest of the Achaean kingdoms, is a dis- 
puted point ; but the latter view is, on the whole, the more probable. In the 
historical times the Dorian element had a decided preponderance over all the 
rest, and institutions prevailed in all the chief cities which had a strong re- 
semblance to those of Sparta. The Spartan division of the freemen into cit- 
izens and periccci existed only in Crete ; and, though the latter country had 
no Helots, their place was supplied by slaves, public and private, who culti- 
vated the lands for their masters. Among these last a system of syssitia, 
closely resembling the Spartan, was established; and a military training 
similar in character, though less severe. The island was parcelled out among 
a number of separate states, often at war Avith one another, but wise enough 
to unite generally against a common enemy. Of these states the most pow- 
erful were Gnossus and Gortyna, each of which aspired to exercise a hegem- 
ony over the Avhole island. Next in importance was Cydonia, and in later 
times Lyctus, or Lyttus. Origmally the cities were ruled by hereditary kings ; 
but ere long their place was taken by elected Cosmi, ten in each community, 
who held office for a certain period, probuMy a year, and were chosen from 
certain families. Side by side with this executive board, there existed in 
each community a senate (yepovaia)^ composed of all who had sei"ved the 
office of Cosmos with credit, and constituting really the chief power in the 
state. There was, further, an assembly (£KKh/(jta) comprising all the citizens, 
which accepted or rejected the measures submitted to it, but had ncrinitiative, 
and no power of debate or amendment. Crete took no part in the general 
affairs of Greece till after the time of Alexander. It maintained a policy 
of abstinence during both the Persian and Peloponnesian Wars. The mili- 
tary character of the Cretans was, however, maintained, both by the frequent 
quarrels of the states one with another, and by the common practice of taking 
service as mercenaries. 

The institutions and history of Crete have been made the subject of elabo- 
rate comment by several very laborious writers. The best Avorks are those 
of 

Meursius, Creta, Cyprus, Rhodus. Amsterdam, 1675 ; 4to. A most 
valuable collection of all that ancient writers have said on the subject. 

Hock, Kreta. Giittingen, 1829 ; 3 a'oIs. 8vo. Particularly ample in all 
that concerns the early, or mythological, history. 

Neumann, K. P., Rerum Creticarum specimen. Gottingen, 1820. 

X. Cyprus. This island seems to have been originally occupied by the Kit- 
tim, a Japhetic race, Avho left their name in the old capital, Citium (K/rwr). 
Soon after the first development of Phoenician poAver, hoAvcA-er, it passed into 
the possession of that people, Avho long continued the predominant race in the 
island. When Hellenic colonists first began to floAv into it is doubtful ; but 
there is evidence that by the time of Sargon (b.c. 720 to 700) a large portion 
of the island Avas Greek, and under Esarhaddon all the cities, except Paphos, 
Tamisus, and Aphrodisias, appear to have been ruled by Greek kings. Cyprus 
seems scarcely ever for any length of time to have been independent. It 
was held by the Phoenicians from about b.c. 1100 to 725, by the Assyrians 
from about b.c. 700 to 650, by the Egyptians from about b.c. 550 to 525, 



168 GKECIAN STATES. [hook hi. 

and by the Persians from B.C. 525 to 333. The most important of the cities, 
which, by whomsoever founded, eventually became Greek, were Salamis and 
Ammochosta (now Famagusta) on the eastern coast ; Citium, Curium, and 
Paphos on the southern ; Soli and Lapethus on the northern ; and Limenia, 
Tamasus, and Idalium in the interior. Amathus continued always Phoenician. 
The most flourishing of the Greek states was Salamis ; and the later history 
of the island is closely connected with that of the Salaminian kings. Among 
these were : 1. Evelthon, contemporary with Arcesilaus III. of Cyrene, about 
B.C. 530; 2. Gorgus ; and 3. Onesilus, contemporary with Darius Hystaspis, 
B. c. 520 to 500. The latter joined in the Ionian revolt, but was defeated and 
slain. 4. Evagoras I., contemporary with Artaxerxes Longimanus, B.C. 449. 
5. Evagoras II., contemporary with Artaxerxes Mnemon, B.C. 391 to 370. 
This prince rebelled, and, assisted by the Athenians and Egyptians, carried on 
a long war against the Persians, but, after the Peace of Antalcidas, was forced 
to submit, B.C. 380, retaining, however, his sovereignty. 6. Protagoras, 
brother of Evagoras II., contemporary with Artaxerxes Ochus, B.C. 350. He 
banished Evagoras, son of Evagoras II., and joined the great revolt which 
followed Ochus's first and unsuccessful expedition against Egypt. This revolt 
was put down before B.C. 346, by the aid of mercenaries commanded by Pho- 
cion ; and thenceforth Cyprus continued faithful to Persia, till Alexander's 
victory at Issus, when the nme kings of the island voluntarily transferred 
their allegiance to Macedon, B.C. 333. 

The best and fullest account of the history of Cyprus will be found in the 
work of Meursius, mentioned above. On the geography of the island the 
student may consult with profit — 

Engel, Kypros. Berlin, 1841 ; 8vo. 

Ross, Reisen nach Kos, Halicarnassus, Rhodos, und der Insein Cypern. 
Halle, 1852. 

E. Greek Colonies. 

The chief works treating the subject generally are the following : 

Raoul-Rochette, Histoire critique de /'ctablissement des Colonies Grecques. 
Paris, 1815 ; 4 vols., 8vo. A most erudite and comprehensive work, but de- 
ficient in critique. 

Hegewisch, D. H., Geographische und historische Nachrichten, die Colo- 
men der Griechen hetreffend. Altona, 1848 ; 8vo. Clear and concise. 

St. Croix, De Tetat et du sort des Colonies des anciens peuples. Philadel- 
phia, 1779. 

Bougainville, J. P., Quels etoient les droits des Metropoles Grecques sur 
les colonies ; les devoirs des colonies envers les metropoles ; et les engagements 
reciproques des unes et des autres ? Paris, 1745. 

Hermann, K. P., Lehrbuch, etc. (see p. 144), chap. iv. pp. 73-90. The 
best synopsis of the subject. 

1. The number of the Greek colonies, and their wide diffu- 
Heiienic coio- ^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^J remarkable. From the extreme re- 
uies. Their cess of the Sea of Azov to the mouth of the Med- 

nnmber and . , . ^ ii £■ 

\vidediffu- iterranean, almost the entire coast, both oi con- 
^^°"* tinents and islands, was studded with the settle- 



PER, II., PART II. J COLONIES. 169' 

iiients of this active and energetic people. Most thickly Avere 
these sown towards the north and the north-east, more spar- 
ingly towards the south and Avest, where a rival civilization 
— the Phoenician — cramped, though it coidd not crush, Gre- 
cian enterprise. Carthage and Tyre would fain have kept 
exclusively in their own hands these regions ; but the Greeks 
forced themselves in here and there, as in Egypt and in the 
Cyrenaica ; while of their own northern shore, except in 
Spain, they held exclusive possession, meeting their rivals in 
the islands of Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, and Cyprus. 

2. The main causes of the spread of the Greeks from their 
proper home in the Hellenic peninsula, over so many and 
_ . . „,^ such distant recrions, were two in number. The 
settlements racc was prolific, and often found itself cramped 

for room, either from the mere natural increase of 
population, or from the pressure upon it of larger and more 
powerful nations. Hence arose movements which were, 
properly speaking, inigratioyis^ though the terra " coloniza- 
tion " has been improperly applied to them. To this class 
belong the iEolian, Ionian, and Dorian settlements in Asia, 
and the Achaean in Italy. But the more usual cause of 
movement was commercial or political enterprise, the state 
which founded a settlement being desirous of extending its 
influence or its trade into a new region. Such settlements 
were colonies proper; and between these and the mother 
country there was always, at any rate at first, a certain con- 
nection, which w^as absent in the case of settlements arising 
out of migrations. Occasionally individual caprice or polit- 
ical disturbance led to the foundation of a new city ; but 
such cases were comparatively rare, and require only a pass- 
ing mention. 

3. The colonies proper of the Greeks were of two kinds, 
aTToidai and K\r]pov\iaL. Ill the former, the political connection 
Colonies prop- between the mother country and the colony was 
ti'on'^iththeh" slight and weak; in the latter, it was exceeding- 
parent states. \j close and strong. 'A7roa-mi were, in fact, inde- 
pendent communities, attached to the mother country mere- 
ly by afifection and by certain generally prevalent usages, 
which, however, were neither altogether obligatory nor very 
definite. The colony usually worshipped as a hero its origi- 
nal founder (o<\(ot//c), and honored the same gods as tlie par- 



1 70 GRECIAN STATES. [book hi. 

ent city. It bore part in the great festivals of its metropolis, 
and contributed ofterinojs to them. It distin- 

'A7ro<Kt'a<, how • i t t • i i • 

differeut from giiished by Special honors at its own games and 
npoi-x'a.. festivals the citizens of the parent community. 
It used the same emblems upon its coins. Its chief-priests 
were, in some instances, drawn continually from the mother 
state ; and, if it designed to found a new settlement itself, 
it sought a leader from the same quarter. War between a 
parent city and a colony was regarded as impious, and a 
certain obligation lay on each to assist the other in times 
of danger. But the observance of these various usages was 
altogether voluntary ; no attempt was ever made to enforce 
them, the complete political independence of the a-Koida be- 
ing always understood and acknowledged. In the kXrjpoux'a 
the case was wholly different. There the state sent out a 
body of its citizens to form a new community in territory 
which it regarded as its own ; the settlers retained all their 
rights as citizens of their old country, and in their new one 
were mainly a garrison intended to maintain the authority 
of those who sent them. out. The dependence of KXrjpovxtat 
on the parent state was thus entire and absolute. The cle- 
ruchs were merely citizens of their old state, to whom cer- 
tain special duties had been assigned and certain benefits 
granted. 

4. The Greek settlements of whatsoever kind may be di- 
vided geographically into the Eastern, the Western, and the 
^. , Southern. Under the first head will come those 

Geographical -, -, i /. i tt^ 

division of the 01 the eastern and northern shores of the ^ge- 
an, those of the Propontis, of the Black Sea, and 
of the Sea of Azov ; under the second, those of Italy, Sicily, 
Gaul, Spain, and the adjacent islands; under the third, those 
of Africa. The order of this arrangement coincides, speak- 
ing broadly, with the chronological succession, and it will 
therefore be observed in the summary now to be given. 

Colonies of the Eastern Group. 

i. On the East Coast of the uEgean. These colonies are usually subdi- 
vided into the ^olian, the Ionian, and the Dorian, or those on the Mysian, 
those on the Lydian, and those on the Carian sea-board. 

(a) The yEolian Colonies. The origin of these colonies is to be sought in 
the first of the two great migratory movements in Gi-eece Proper. When 
the Boeotians driven out of Arne in Thessal}^ dispossessed the Cadmeians, 



PER. II., PART II. J COLONIES. 171 

Minyae, and others of the tract thenceforward known as Bceotia, a portion of 
the inhabitants, including a number of refugees, quitted the country and pro- 
ceeded in search of new homes under Boeotian (i. e., iEohan) leaders. (See 
First Period, §§ 9 and 11.) Following the course of the Trojan expedition, 
these emigrants reached the north-western corner of Asia Minor, and there 
established themselves on the coast and in the islands. In Tenedos they 
founded a single city of the same name ; in Lesbos they built five towns, 
Mytilene, Methymna, Antissa, Eresus, and Pyrrha, all of them on the coast ; 
upon the main-land they made twelve settlements, Smyraa, Cuma (or Phri- 
conis), Myrina, Grj^neium, and Pitane, upon the coast, Temnus, Larissa, 
Neonteichos, ^g£e, certainly, and Cilia, Notium, and ^giroessa, probably in 
the interior. Of these cities Smyrna, which after a while joined the Ionian 
confederacy, and Cuma (or Cyme) were the most important. In Lesbos, 
Mytilene obtained an ascendency over the other towns, having, however, 
always a jealous rival in Methymna. The JEolian power was spread con- 
siderably beyond its original limits by the colonizing efforts of Cuma and 
Lesbos. The tract between the Gulf of Adramyttium and the Hellespont 
became vEolian, its chief towns being Antandrus, Gargara, and Assus. Ses- 
tus, too, in the Chersonese, and ^nus on the coast of Thrace, were JEolian 
colonies. The ^olian towns seem in general to have been independent of 
one another ; and there is no evidence that they formed at any time a con- 
federacy, or even an Amphictyony. Their forms of government were vari- 
ous, and often suffered revolutionary changes. Mytilene, in particular, suf- 
fered much from internal commotion, till Pittacus (about B.C. 600), as dicta- 
tor (aiavjLtvrjTT/g\ established tranquillity. Continental vEolis maintained its 
independence till the time of Crcesus (u.c. 568), when it was conquered to- 
gether with Ionia and Doris. In B.C. 554 it passed under the sceptre of 
Persia. Lesbos continued free till somewhat later, but was subjected before 
the expedition of Cambyses against Egypt, B.C. 525. She took an impor- 
tant part in the Ionian revolt (b.c. 500 to 494), and was severely punished at 
its conclusion, b.c. 493. At the same time, Tenedos was subjugated. After 
the battle of Salamis, Lesbos recovered its independence, and in B.C. 477 be- 
came a member of the Athenian confederacy. For many years it was treat- 
ed with special favor by Athens, but revolting early in the Peloponnesian 
War (B.C. 428), was conquered, and experienced great harshness. A second 
revolt, B.C. 412, was equally unsuccessful. After ^gos-potami (b.c. 404), 
Lesbos fell under Spartan influence, but was recovered to Athens in b.c. 390, 
and continued a dependency until its freedom was estabhshed by the Peace 
of Antalcidas, B.C. 387. In b.c. 334 it submitted to Alexander. 

Special works on Lesbos, worthy of the student's attention, are — 

Plehn, S. L., Lesbiacorum lihrer. Berlin, 1826 ; 8vo. 

Lander, Beitrdge zur Kunde der Insel Lesbos. Hamburg, 1827. 

(6) The Ionian Colonies. The Ionian colonies were regarded by the 
Greeks as having been founded somewhat later than the iEohan. Their 
origin is to be sought in the second or great Dorian migration. An Ionian 
population, expelled from the northern coast of the Peloponnese by the fugi- 
tive Achceans, sought a refuge in Attica, where it was kindly harbored for 
a while ; but the narrow, infertile, and already well-peopled Attica being in- 
sufficient for its needs, a migratory movement began across the ^gean Sea. 



172 GRECIAN STATES. [book hi. 

Ceos, Cythnus, Seriphus, Siphnus, Paros, Naxos, Syros, Andros, Tenos, lihe- 
neia, Delos, and Myconus were successively occupied by Ionian colonists, who 
went out in some cases under Attic leaders. Erom the more eastern of these 
islands the passage Avas easy to Asia. Between b.c. 1000 and 800 a series 
of settlements were made on the Asiatic coasts and islands, directly below the 
settlements of the ^olians, by a stream of emigrants predominantly Ionian, 
though comprising also a great intermixture of races, as Abantes, Minyse, 
Cadmeians, Dryopians, Phocians, Molossians, Arcadians, Epidaurian Dori- 
ans, and others. Twelve of these settlements were pre-eminent, and formed 
together an Amphictyony, which had its place of meeting at the Temple of 
Neptune, called the "Panionium," situated on the headland of Mycale, op- 
posite Samos. The twelve were Miletus, Myus, Priene, Ephesus, Colophon, 
Lebedus, Teos, Erythr», Clazomena?, and Phoca^a, u]Jon the main-land, Samos 
and Chios upon islands. Of these by far the most important in the early 
times were Miletus, Phocrea, and Samos. Miletus Avas the first to develop 
into a powerful state. As early as B.C. 780 she began to send out that series 
of colonies which formed her chief glory, and gave her the name of Heca- 
tompolis. The Hellespont, the Propontis, the Euxine, and the Sea of Azov, 
for the most part, received these settlements, of which an account Avill be 
given under other heads. About B.C. GOO Phoc^ea became distinguished. 
Iler mariners Avere the first Greeks Avho explored the Adriatic Sea and the 
Western Mediterranean, and the only Greeks Avho are knoAvn to have ever 
adventured themselves beyond the pillars of Hercules into the Atlantic 
Ocean. They traded Avith Tartessus in Spain, founded Alalia in Corsica, 
Massilia on the coast of Gaul, and Elea, or Velia (Vela) in Italy. The rise 
of Samos to greatness Avas not much prior to B.C. 540. She OAved her splen- 
dor chiefly to the tyrant Polycrates, the friend of Amasis of Egypt, under 
Avhoni the arts flourished, commerce Avas developed, and the dominion of 
Samos extended over many of the JEgean Islands. The Ionian Greeks 
maintained their independence uninterruptedly till the rise of the Mermnad 
dynasty in Lydia, Avhen they Avere made the object of a series of attacks by 
the Lydian kings, Avhich led to their gradual subjection. Colophon Avas re- 
duced by Gyges, about B.C. 700; Priene' by Ardys, about 650; Smyrna, 
after it had become Ionian, by Alyattes, about b.c. G20. Miletus, which had 
been attacked, successively, by every Mermnad king, Avas finally forced, Avith 
the rest of the Ionian tOAvns, to submit to Croesus, about b.c. 565. On the 
fall of the Lydian empire, b.c. 554, all the Ionian states, except Chios and 
Samos, passed under the yoke of Persia. Chios and Samos seem to haA^e 
submitted to Cambyses, about B.C. 526. About this time it appears that 
most of the states Avere under the government of tyrants. The machinations 
of one of these, Histiosus of Miletus, and of his vicegerent, Aiistagoras, led to 
the great revolt in the reign of Darius Hystaspis (b.c. 500), suppressed after 
six years of struggle Avith a severity Avhich completely broke the poAver of 
Miletus and greatly reduced that of almost all the other states. Henceforth 
tlie most important states Avere Samos, Chios, and Ephesus. Samos, Avhich 
invited the Greek fleet to Asia after Salamis (b.c. 479), and played an im- 
portant part at Mycale', entered readily into the Athenian confederacy, B.C. 
477, and supported the measures by Avhich Athens established her empire, 
but revolting in b.c, 440, Avas forcibly reduced by Pericles. She remained 



PER. II., PART II.] COLONIES. 173 

faithful to Athens throughout the Peloponnesian War, during the later part 
of which she was the head-quarters of Athenian power. Becoming free in 
B.C. 40-i, she was, about B.C. 380, recovered by Persia. Reconquered by 
Tiinotheus in B.C. 3G5, she passed into the number of Athenian cleruchice, 
and occupied this position till the time of Alexander. Chios, which revolted 
from Persia after Mycale, became, like Samos, a member of the Athenian 
confederacy in B.C. 477, and continued faithful till b.c. 413, when it made 
alliance with the Spartans. The attempts of Athens to recover it by force of 
arms all failed ; but in B.C. 378 it entered voluntarily into the restored Athe- 
nian confederation, in which it continued till b.c 358, when, in conjunction 
with Cos, Rhodes, and Byzantium, it seceded. The " Social War" followed, 
by which Chios re-established her independence, b.c. 356. In B.C. 333 Chios 
was recovered to Persia by Memnon of Rhodes, but the next year it submit- 
ted to Alexander. Ephesus, insignificant during the early times, acquired 
the favor of the Persians by abstention from the Ionian revolt. Thenceforth 
it grew in power and wealth, succeeding apparently to the commercial posi- 
tion of Miletus and Phocj»a. Its great glory was its Temple of Artemis, 
which was twice burnt — first by the Cimmerians, about b.c. G50, and again 
(B.C. 35G) by Herostratus. In the Macedonian and Roman times, Ephesus 
was regarded as the first city of Asia Minor. 

Several important works have been written on the history of Miletus. 
Among them may be noticed — 

Rambach, F. E., De Mileto ejusque coloniis. Halle, 1790 ; 4to. 

Sold AN, G. T., Reruyn Milesiarum comment arius. Darmstadt, 1829. 

Schroder, A., Reruin Milesiarum particul a I. Stralsund, 1827. 

The best and fullest account of the history of Samos Avill be found in 

Panofka, T., Res Scmiiorum. Berlin, 1822. 

(c) The Dorian Colonies. These colonies issued from the Peloponnese 
during the time that the Dorians were gradually conquering it. The bulk 
of the colonists were often of some other race (as Achaans, Minyae, etc.); 
but they went out under Doric leaders. The course taken by the emigrants 
was through the southern Cyclades, where Melos, Pholegandrus, Thera, Ana- 
phe, and Astypaliea were reckoned as Dorian settlements. But the most 
important of the colonies were planted on the Asiatic coast and in the littoral 
islands. Three in Rhodes, lalyssus, Lindus, and Cameirus ; one in Cos, 
bearing the same name as the island ; and two upon the main-land, Halicar- 
nassus and Cnidus, formed originally an Amphictyony, which met at the 
Triopium, or Temple of Apollo Triopius, situated near the last-named city. 
But Halicarnassus, after a while, was excluded from the confederation. 
Otlier cities of Dorian origin, whicli did not, however, at any time belong to 
the Amphictyony, seem to have been Myndus, near Halicarnassus, and Pha- 
selis, on the coast of Lycia. The islands Calymna, Nisyrus, Telos, and Chal- 
cia had also a Doric population. The Dorian colonies maintained their in- 
dependence from their original foundation to the time of Croesus, who re- 
duced Halicarnassus, Myndus, and Cnidus. At the foil of the Lydian em- 
pire, these cities transferred their allegiance to Persia ; and their example 
was followed by the island towns when Phoenicia submitted to Cambyses. 
The Dorians took no part in the Ionian revolt ; and the cities were for the 
most part undistinguished until the time of Alexander. Halicarnassus, the 



174 GRECIAN STATES. [book hi. 

birth-place of Herodotus, forms the only notable exception. Here, under 
the Persian kings, a dynasty of Hellenized Carians established itself, which 
held not only Halicarnassus, but most of Caria, together Avith Cos, Calymna, 
and Nisyrus. To this belonged, 1. A king, whose name is unknown, about 
B.C. 500, contemporary with Darius ; 2, Artemisia, his widow, contemporary 
with and in the confidence of Xerxes, B.C. 480 ; 3. Pisindelis, her son, about 
B.C. 460; 4. Lygdamis, son of Pisindehs, about B.C. 450, Under him the 
monarchy came to an end, and Halicarnassus joined the Athenian confeder- 
acy. It was recovered by Persia after the Peace of Antalcidas, b.c. 387; 
and the old royal family seems to have been restored. We find, 5. Heca- 
tomnus, king b.c. 380. He is succeeded, about b.c. 377, by 6. his son, 
Mausolus, who is followed by his widow and sister, 7. Artemisia II., b.c. 
353, the builder of the famous "Mausoleum." Artemisia dying, b.c. 351, 
the crown falls to 8. Idrieus, second son of Hecatomnus, who reigns seven 
years, and is succeeded by his widow and sister, 9. Ada. She is driven out, 
after reigning four years, by 10. her brother, Pixodarus, the third son of 
Hecatomnus, who dies after a reign of five years, b.c. 335 ; and is followed 
by 11. his son-in-law, Orontobates, king when the city is besieged by Alex- 
ander. 

The sites of Cnidus and Halicarnassus have recently been very carefully 
explored. For a full account of the explorations, see the magnificently illus- 
trated work of Mr. Newton, entitled A History of Discoveries at Halicar- 
nassus, Cnidus, and Branchidce. London, 1862 ; 2 vols, folio. 

A good monograph on the subject of Cos was published in 1833 by KiJSTER. 
(Z)e Co insula. Halle ; 8vo.) 

ii. On the North Coast of the yEgean. These settlements extended al- 
most continuously along the entire coast from Methone, in Pieria, to the 
Chersonese. They may be divided into western, central, and eastern. 

(a) Western Group. This comprised Methone, on the eastern coast of the 
Thermaic Gulf, which was a colony from Eretria, founded about b.c. 730, 
and the settlements of the Chalcidic peninsula, including those of the three 
long projections from it, Pallcne, Sithonia, and Acte, or the peninsula of 
Athos. The greater part of the settlements in this quarter Avere made by 
the town of Chalcis in Euboea, but some were from Eretria, and several from 
Andros. Potida^a, the most important of them all in the early times, was a 
colony from Corinth. The cities of Chalcidian origin were chiefly in Si- 
thonia ; they included Torone', Singus, Sermyle, Galepsus, and Mecyberaa. 
Olynthus became a Chalcidian possession in B.C. 480. The colonies of Ere- 
tria were mainly in Pallene. Among these the most important w^as Mende. 
Andros founded Sane, near the site of the canal of Xerxes, and Acanthus, 
Stageirus, and Argilus, on the coast between Athos and Amphipolis. Chal- 
cidice first became a power in the Peloponnesian War, when its cities, en- 
com-aged by Brasidas, revolted from Athens, B.C. 424. It joined the league 
headed by Argos after the Peace of Nicias, B.C. 421, and the restored Spartan 
confederacy in b.c. 418. Soon after the close of the Peloponnesian War, 
Olynthus acquired a preponderating influence in Chalcidice, and became the 
head of a league which carried on Avar successfully Avith Macedon, b.c. 392 
to 383 ; but, provoking by these successes the jealousy of Sparta, Olynthus 
was attacked by that state, and forced to become one of her subject allies. 



PER. II., PART ii.J COLONIES. 175 

Subsequently the power of the Olynthians was much curtailed by Athens, 
B.C. 368 to 303 ; and they \vei*e consequently unable to resist the attacks of 
Philip, even though assisted by Athens, who too late saw her error. Olyn- 
thus fell in b.c. 347, and Chalcidice' was swallowed up in Macedon. 

(b) Central Group. This consisted of the cities from the Strymon to the 
Nestus, which were Amphipolis, E'ion, Myrcinus, Apollonia, Galepsus, CEsy- 
me', Neapolis, Datum, Scapte'-Hyle', and Crenides (afterwards Philippi). The 
earliest of these settlements seem to have been made from Thasos, after it 
had receiAcd its Parian colony; these were Datum, Scapte-Hyle, ffisyme, 
and Galepsus. Myrcinus, on the Strymonic Lake, was founded by Histiasus 
of Miletus about B.C. 508. Amphipolis, founded by Athens b.c. 465 (re- 
founded B.C. 437), grew at once into vast importance from the advantages 
of its site. It revolted from the Athenians b.c. 424, and, in alliance with 
Olynthus, resisted all their efforts to subdue it. In B.C. 358 it was taken 
and annexed by PhiHp. 

(c) Eastern Group. Under this head come tlie settlements between the 
Nestus and the Hellespont, of which the chief were Abdera, founded by the 
Teians, wlien their city Avas threatened by Harpagus, about b.c. 553 ; Maro- 
neia, a colony of Chios ; Mesambria, of Samothrace ; Cardia, of Miletus and 
Clazomente ; Elajus, of Teos ; JEnos, Aloj^econnesus, and Sestos of ^ohs. 
Of these Cardia, Elaeus, Alopeconnesus, and Sestos were situated in the 
Chersonese, where were also the Greek cities of Madytus, CallipoHs, and 
Pactya. The Chersonese became a single kingdom under the first Miltiades, 
about B.C. 560. He was succeeded, about b,c. 523, by his nephew, Stesag- 
oras, who was followed, about b.c. 516, by his brother, the second Miltiades. 
The Persians conquered it in b.c. 493, and held it till b.c. 479. After this 
it was alternately subject to Athens and Sparta, till the battle of Chreroneia 
transferred the headship of Greece to Macedon. 

iii. Colonies of the Propontis. On the Asiatic shores of the Propontis and 
the Bosphorus stood Lampsacus, a joint colony of the Phoceeans and Mile- 
sians ; Parium, a colony of Erythroe ; Priapus, Artace', Cyzicus, and Cius, col- 
onies of Miletus ; and Chalcedon, a colony of Megara. On the opposite or 
European shores were Bisanthe' and Perinthus, colonies of the Samians, and 
Byzantium, like Chalcedon, a colony of the Megarians. In mid-sea was Pro- 
connesus, a colony of the Milesians. Of these settlements Byzantium was, 
owing to its situation, by far the most important. It commanded the en- 
trance to the Black Sea, and consequently controlled at its Avill the important 
trade which the Greeks carried on, chiefly for corn, with Thrace and Scythia. 
Cyzicus, Bisanthe', and Perinthus were also places of some consequence. 

On early Byzantine history the student may consult with profit — 

Heynk's Antiquitates Byzantince; Comment ationes duce. Gottingen, 
1809; 8vo. 

iv. Colonies of the Euxine, the Cimmerian Bosphorus, and the Palus Mceo- 
tic. These colonies were chiefly founded by Miletus ; but a few of the most 
important proceeded from Megara. They extended almost continuously 
along the northern coast of Asia Minor and the eastern coast of Thrace, but 
were only occasional between t*he mouth of the Danube and that of the Pha- 
sis. We may subdivide them into (a) those in Thrace, {b) those in Scythia, 
and (c) those in Asia, south of the Caucasus. 



176 GRECIAN STATES. [book hi. 

(a) Colonies on the East Coast of Thrace. Proceeding northward from 
the Bosphorus, the most important settlements were ApoUonia, Mesambria, 
Odessus, Callatis, Tomi, the scene of Ovid's exile, and Istria or Istropolis. 
Of these, Apollonia, Odessus, Callatis, Torai, and Istria were Milesian settle- 
ments, Avhile Mesambria was a colony 'of the Megarians. They were mostly 
founded in the course of the seventh century. Odessus, Tomi, Callatis, 
Mesambria, and Apollonia were at one time united in a league, the presi- 
dency of which belonged to Odessus. Commercially, the most important of 
the Thracian settlements seems to have been Istropolis. 

(5) Colonies on the Coast of Scythia. The chief of these were Tyras, at 
the mouth of the Tyras (Dniester) ; Olbia, on the estuary of the Hypanis 
(Bog) ; Chersonesus Ileracleiotica, near the site of the modern Sebastopol ; 
Theudosia, on the site of Kaffa ; Panticapgeum (afterwards Bosporus), near 
the modern Kertch ; Phanagoria, on the Asiatic coast opposite ; and Tanais, 
in the extreme recess of the Palus Meeotis, at the mouth of the similarly- 
named river. With the single exception of Chersonesus Ileracleiotica, these 
cities were all colonies of Miletus, founded chiefly in the eighth century. 
Chersonesus was a colony from Ileracleia Pontica, on the opposite coast of 
Asia Minor, which was itself a colony from Megara. It was founded, prob- 
ably, about the middle of the fifth century. In the early times, Olbia was 
the most important of the Scythian colonies; but about B.C. 480 Panticapce^ 
nm became the great city of these parts. It was the capital of a Grceco- 
Scythic kingdom, called that of the Bosporus, which extended westward be- 
yond Theudosia, and eastward to the mouth of the Kouban, thus including 
both Theudosia and Phanagoria. A list of the kings is given by Diodorus. 
1. Spartacus I., reigned from B.C. 438 to 431. 2. Seleucus, reigned from 
B.C. 431 to 427. 3. Satyrus I., reigned from B.C. 407 to 393. 4. Leucon, 
his son, reigned from B.C. 393 to 353. 5. Spartacus 11. , his son, reigned 
from B.C. 353 to 348. 6. Parysades I., his brother, reigned from b.c. 348 
to 310. 7. Satyrus II., his son, reigned nine months. 8. Prytanis, his 
brother, was deposed by 9. Eumelus, also his brother, Avho reigned five 
years, from B.C. 309 to 304. He was succeeded by 10. Spartacus III., his 
son, who reigned twenty years, from b.c. 304 to 284. The kingdom seems 
to have remained after this in the same family till about b.c. 110, when it 
was handed over by Parysades II. to the great Mithridates. The kings of 
Bosporus, especially Satyrus I., and his son, Leucon, Avere on terms of close 
friendship with Athens, which depended mainly on Bosporus for its corn 
supplies. 

(c) Colonies of the Asiatic Coast, south of the Caucasus. Commencing at 
the foot of the Caucasus, these were Dioscurias, in the modern Mingi-elia, 
and Phasis, at the mouth of the Phasis, early colonies of the Milesians ; 
Trapezius (Trebizond), Cerasus, and Cotyora, colonies of Sinope ; Themiscy- 
ra ; Amisus, a colony of Phocaja, or perhaps of Miletus ; Sinope, undoubted- 
ly a colony of Miletus ; and Ileracleia Pontica, a colony of Megara, founded 
about B.C. 560. Heracleia, Sinope, and Amisus were all cities of great im- 
portance. The first, situated in the territorjf of the Mariandyni, carried on 
an extensive trade with Scythia and Thrace, extended its dominion over the 
whole of the Mai'iandynian country, and at one time possessed the entire 
coast between the Sangarius and Parthenius rivers. The government was 



PER. II., PART II.] COLONIES. 177 

republican, but after contests of the usual character between the aristocratical 
and democratical parties, became a tyranny in the person of Clearchus, about 
B.C. 370. Clearchus was assassinated; but the crown continued to be held 
by his descendants down to the conquests of Alexander. — Sinope', founded by 
Miletus, probably about u.c. 780, was captured by the Cimmerians at the 
time of their great inroad, and made a soi't of head-quarters from which they 
sent out their expeditions. After their expulsion it was recovered by the 
Milesians, about B. c. G30, and rose to great prosperity, becoming itself a col- 
onizing power, and exercising a great influence over the neighboring barbari- 
ans. The tunny fishery of the Euxine, which it shared with Byzantium, was 
one of the great sources of its opulence. — Amisus, founded from Ionia about 
B.C. 600, received an Athenian colony about B.C. 450, and became shortly af- 
terwards one of the most flourishing of the Black Sea settlements. It attain- 
ed, however, its greatest prosperity under the kings of Pontus, B.C. 380 to 64, 
who sometimes made it their capital. 

Colonies of the Western Group. 

The colonies of the Western group include those on the Illyrian coast; 
those in Italy ; those in Sicily ; those on the coasts of Gaul and Spain ; and 
those in Corsica and Sardinia. 

i. Colonies on the Coast of lUyria. The two principal settlements in these 
parts were Apollonia and Epidamnus, the former a colony from Corinth, the 
latter from Corcyra. Epidamnus was founded about B.C. 625. It had a 
highly oligarchical constitution ; but in course of time a democratical spirit 
arose, the state was revolutionized, and most of the oligarchs exiled. Hence 
arose the struggle which, as much as any thing, brought on the Peloponnesian 
War. Corinth assisted the oligarchs, Corcyra the democratic faction. The 
result is unknown to us ; but it is probable that the Corcp-teans Avere the 
victors. From about B.C. 312 Epidamnus was subject to attacks on the 
part of the Illyrians, which induced her, about B.C. 227, to place herself 
under the protection of the Romans. The Romans commonly called the city 
Dyn-hachium. Apollonia, founded by Periander, about B.C. 600, Avas com- 
paratively insignificant until Roman times, when it became the seat of a 
university, and acquired a great reputation. Other Greek settlements on 
this coast were Oricus, near Apollonia ; Lissus, north of Epidamnus, found- 
ed by the elder Dionysius ; and Epidaurus, north-Avest of Lissus ; but these 
were of small importance. 

ii. Colonies in Italy. These settlements commenced in lapygia, and Avere 
continued at brief inten^als along the entire coast from the extreme eastern 
point of Italy to Campania on its Avestern shores. The most important Avere 
Taras, or Tarentum, in the inner recess of the gulf bearing the same name ; 
Metapontum, Sybaris, and Thurii, on the Avestern coast of the same gulf: 
Croton, at its south-Avestern extremity ; Locri Epizephyrii, loAver doAvn, near 
the southern point of Bruttium ; Rhegium, opposite Zancle in Sicily ; Laiis, 
at the mouth of the Laiis river ; Elea, or Velia, on the coast of Lucania ; 
Posidonia, aftei'Avards Poestum, near the mouth of the Silarus ; Palaeopolis 
and Neapolis, in the bay of Naples ; and Cyme' (Cumic), beyond the north- 
ern extremity of the bay, near Lake Averaus. Of inferior importance were 



[78 GRECIAN STATES. [book hi. 

Hydrus and Callipolis in lapygia, dependencies of Tarentum ; Heracleia and 
Siris, south of Metapontum, colonies respectively of Tarentum and Colophon ; 
Caulonia, near Locri Epizephyrii, and Terina, on the opposite coast, colonies 
of Croton ; Hipponium, south, and Temesa, north of Terina, colonies of Locri 
Epizephyrii ; Pyxus (Buxentum), between Laus and Velia, probably a colo- 
ny of Siris ; and Dicsearchia (Puteoli), near Baije, a colony of Cumje. A 
special historical interest attaches to the following cities : 

(a) Taras, or Tarentum. Founded from Sparta by the discontented Par- 
thenii, about B.C. 708. At first overshadowed by the greatness of the Achae- 
an cities, Metapontum, Sybaris, and Croton ; but gradually raised to the first 
position among the Italic states by the excellence of its harbor and the vigor 
of its semi-Spartan people. Engaged in friendly commerce with Corinth as 
early as b.c, 600. Carried on successful wars with the Messapians and Peu- 
cetians, suffering, however, occasional defeat (as in b.c. 473). Resisted the 
foundation of Thurii, b.c. 443 to 433 ; but founded Heracleia in conjunction 
with the Thurians, B.C. 432. Held aloof from the struggle between Athens 
and Syracuse, B.C. 415 to 413. Raised to the head of the Italic confederacy 
against the Lucanians, about b. c. 350. CaiTied on long wars with frequent 
foreign aid, inviting successively Archidamus of Sparta, Alexander of Epirus, 
and Cleonymus of Sparta to its assistance. Came into hostile collision with 
Rome, B.C. 281, and invited Pyrrhus into Italy. Forced to submit to Rome, 
B.C. 273. Played an important part in the Second Punic War, b.c. 212 to 
209, but after its capture by Fabius sank into a mere luxurious watering- 
place. The government of Tarentum was originally an ai-istocracy on the 
Spartan model, with kings presiding over it; but after the great defeat of the 
year b.c. 473, it became a decided democracy. The place of the king was 
taken by an annually elected Strategus ; and the lot was introduced and ex- 
tended to a full half of the magistrates. Archytas, the Pythagorean philos- 
opher, held the office of Strategus for seven years in succession (about b.c. 
370). 

(b) Metapontum. Founded by Achoeans from the Peloponnese, about 
B. c. 700 to 690, at the instance of Croton and Sybaris, which wished to be 
strengthened against Tarentum. Joined in a league with those two cities 
against the Ionian Siris, which effected the destruction of that place, about 
the middle of the sixth century b.c. Received Pythagoras on his expulsion 
from Crotona, about b.c. 520. Joined the Athenians in their attempt to 
conquer Sicily, B.C. 414. Made alliance-with Alexander of Epirus, b.c. 332. 
Opposed Cleonymus, b. c. 303. Assisted Pyrrhus and Hannibal. Fell under 
the power of Rome, b.c. 207. 

(c) Sybaris. Tlie earliest of the Greek settlements in this part of Italy, 
was founded by the Achreans, about B.C. 720, and rapidly attained a great 
and extraoi-dinary prosperity, which we must ascribe in part to the remark- 
able fertility of the territory, in part to the hold which the city obtained, 
through priority of settlement, on the Italian trade. Situated at a point 
where Italy is abnormally narrow, Sybaris was able to extend her dominion 
from sea to sea. She brought under several tribes of the OEnotrians, and 
planted colonies on the western coast of Italy, as especially Posidonia and 
Laiis. It was a peculiarity of her policy to admit strangers freely to her 
citizenship ; and hence her population increased so enormously that, we are 



PEK. II,, PART II. J COLONIES. 179 

told, she could bring into the field 300,000 men. At the same time, luxury 
made rapid strides, and the Sybarites became proverbial for their refinement 
and their efteminate habits. Their trade was extensive. They had an im- 
portant commerce with Miletus, and probably were for a time the chief car- 
riers between the east and west, or at any rate divided with the Phoenicians 
this veiy profitable tratfic. The most flourishing time of Sybaris was from 
B.C. 600 to 550. Its fall was caused by political dissensions. The old oli- 
garchical government was succeeded, about b.c. 520, by a democracy, which 
was soon exchanged for a tyranny, one Telys obtaining the supreme power. 
Telys banished 500 of the oligarchs, who fled to Croton, and that city es- 
pousing their cause, a war followed, which terminated in the complete de- 
struction of Sybaris, b.c. 510. Efforts were made to re-establish the fallen 
city, but they failed ; and, instead of a new Sybaris, there arose near it the 
important city of Thurii. The Sybarites found a refuge in their colonies, 
Laiis and Scidrus. 

(d) Thurii. This city was founded by Pericles, b.c. 443, and was no 
doubt intended by him to strengthen the Athenian interest in a part of the 
Grecian world which was almost wholly under the influence of Sparta. Its 
population was from the first of a mixed chai'acter, including a number of 
the old Sybarites, Greeks from various parts of the Peloponnese, Ionian 
Greeks, and others. Quarrels soon arose, especially between the Sybarites 
and the new-comers. The former Avere worsted and expelled. Fresh colo- 
nists were then invited from all parts of Greece ; and the state was modelled 
anew on a democratic basis, but one in which the various ethnic elements 
were recognized and made the basis of the political' organization. The legal 
code of Charondas was accepted. Thurii now grew in power, and, provoking 
the jealousy of Tarentum, was attacked by that state, but succeeded in main- 
taining its independence. In the Peloponnesian War, the Thuiians, after 
some hesitation, joined the Athenians, b.c. 413, but revolted after the Sicilian 
disasters, and expelled the portion of the population which especially favored 
Athens. Soon after this, Thurii was attacked by the Lucanians ; and a long 
war followed, generally to the disadvantage of the Thurians, who suffered one 
very signal defeat, b.c. 390. About b.c. 286 they implored the aid of the 
Romans, which brought upon them a new enemy in the Tarentines, who took 
and plundered the city, b.c. 283. Thurii was from this time a Roman de- 
pendency, occasionally wavering in its allegiance, as especially during the 
Second Punic War. It gradually declined in power, and at length, b.c. 194, 
received a Roman colony, and ceased altogether to be a distinct state. 

(e) Croton, or Crotona, was founded by Achasans from the Peloponnese, 
shortly after the foundation of Sybaris, b.c. 710 probably. It rapidly rose to 
almost equal prosperity with its sister city, sending out colonies to Caulonia, 
near Locri, and to Terina on the opposite or western coast of Italy, and ex- 
ercising a paramount authority over all the native races in its neighborhood. 
Less populous than Sybaris, but still able to bring into the field armies of 
100,000 men and upward, it compensated for this inferiority by a special at- 
tention to athletic training, an attention evidenced by the number of Croton- 
iat victors at the Olympic Games. At the same time its citizens cultivated 
with success the science of medicine. The first war in which we find Croton 
engaged was one with the Locrians and Rhegines, who completely defeated 



180 GRECIAN 'STATES. [book ni. 

her forces at the river Sagras, about B.C. 550. Soon after this she received 
the Samian refugee Pythagoras, who quickly acquired a great influence in 
the state by the secret society which he set up. The government was at the 
time a moderate ohgarchy, power being in the hands of a Council of One 
Thousand, the descendants and representatives of the original settlers. The 
Pythagoreans were suspected of an intention to narrow the basis of the gov- 
ernment, and were consequently expelled about B.C. 510, the constitution be- 
ing at the same time revolutionized in a democratical sense. The Council 
of One Thousand was superseded by a new senate, taken by lot from the 
Avhole body of the citizens ; and the principle was established that all magis- 
trates should be accountable at the expiration of their term of office. This 
expulsion took place notwithstanding a signal military success gained during 
the Pythagorean ascendency, and attributable in great measure to the Pytha- 
gorean athlete, Milo. It was while the friends of Pythagoras were still in 
power that Croton received the banished Sybarites, rejecting the demand of 
Telys for their surrender (see § c), and met and defeated the Sybarite army 
on the banks of the river Traeis. Milo commanded in this battle, and the 
conquest of Sybaris was his doing. After these successes, Croton was with- 
out a rival in Italy, her power exceeding even that of Tarentum. She con- 
tinued to flourish till the rise* of the Sicilian tyrants, Avhen she became sub- 
ject to their attacks, and suffered much at their hands. Dionysius I., in B.C. 
889, and Agathocles, in B.C. 299, took Croton. During the war with Pyr- 
rhus, it passed into the possession of Rome, B.C. 277. 

(/) Locri Epizeiohyrii. There can be little doubt that this city was, if 
not originally, yet at any rate ultimately and predominantly, a colony either 
of the Ozolian or the Opuntian Locrians, since no other probable account can 
be given of its name. Various dates are assigned to the settlement, which 
was probably not much later than B.C. 700. The legislation of Zaleucus, 
about B.C. 660, gave to Locri its chief celebrity. His laws, which continued 
in force for above tAvo hundred years, were regarded as among the best in 
Greece ; and the quiet and good government for which Locri was famous 
were in a great measure ascribed to them. It is uncertain whether Zaleucus 
framed the constitution, or found it already in existence. The said consti- 
tution was oligarchical, but on a tolerably broad basis. A hundred houses 
formed an exclusive nobility, but the chief power was in the hands of a 
council containing a thousand membei's, who are thought to have been elect- 
ed freely from the people. Locri was in the early times subject to attacks 
on the part of Croton, but successfully resisted them and obtained an ample 
vengeance on its assailants by the important victory of the Sagras. (See the 
last section.) Though less populous, and on the whole less powerful than 
either Croton or Sybaris, she flourished longer than either, her prosperity 
continuing for more than three centuries, from b.c. 660 to 356. She was, 
during the greater part of this time, on terms of close friendship with Syra- 
cuse, which assisted her against Rhegium and Croton, enlarging her domin- 
ions at the expense of the latter. Her misfortunes, however, began from this 
quarter. Having admitted Dionysius II. into their city on his expulsion 
from Syracuse, the Locrians suffered grievous oppression at his hands during 
the space of six years, after which they were attacked by the Bruttians, who 
brought their poAver very low. Before the invasion of Pyrrhus they had sub- 



PER. II., PART II.] COLONIES. 181 

mitted to the Romans ; and, though they subsequently coquetted both with 
him and with Hannibal, yet they may Ijc regarded as substantially a Koman 
dependency from about b.c. 280. 

(g) Rhegium. Founded from Chalcis in Euboea, about i?.c. 725. Admit- 
ted from the first among its colonists a number of Messenian refugees, who 
Avere subsequently strengthened by accessions, and formed the ruling class in 
the community. The Council of One Thousand, which in Rhegium, as in 
Thurii and Croton, had the chief direction of affiiirs, was composed exclusive- 
ly of Messenians ; and from them were drawn the chief magistrates who ad- 
ministered the state. Cramped on the side of Italy by the near neighborhood 
of Locri, whose territory extended from sea to sea, and with whom she was 
almost constantly at war, Rhegium cultivated relations with Sicily, and aimed 
at extending her power in that direction. This purpose she accomplished 
nnder the despot Anaxilas, who made himself master of Zancle, on the Si- 
cilian coast, and changed its name to Messana. Anaxilas reigned from b.c. 
494 to 476. He was succeeded by his two sons, minors, on behalf of whom 
ruled for nine years the regent Micythus, B.C. 476 to 467. The sons enjoyed 
the sovereignty for no more than six years, being expelled b.c. 461 by a rev- 
olution. Rhegium now, after a certain time of commotion, settled down into 
tranquillity, and, adopting the laws of Charondas, enjoyed a period of repose. 
This was disturbed by the ambitious projects of Dionysius I. of Syracuse, 
against whom the Rhegines declared war, b.c. 399, thus initiating the con- 
test which broke their power and reduced them from a first-rate to a third- 
rate state. Rhegium was captured and destroyed by Dionysius in B.C. 387; 
and, though restored by the second Dionysius, never afterwards flourished. 
In the war Avith Pyrrhus, the Rhegines took the side of Rome, and received 
into their city, as a garrison, a body of Campanian troops, who, following the 
example of the Mamertines (see p. 185), murdered the inhabitants and seized 
the town, B.C. 280. After the close of the war, B.C. 270, the Romans exe- 
cuted these rebellious soldiers, and restored the city to the survivors of the 
massacre ; but thenceforth Rhegium continued a mere dependency of Rome. 

(Ji) Elea or Velia. This city was founded by the Phocceans, after their 
calamitous victory otf the coast of Etruria over the combined Etruscan and 
Carthaginian fleets, about B.C. 550. Considerably removed from any other 
important Greek city, it flourished greatly, and became the seat of the famous 
Eleatic school of philosophy, whose teachers, Parmenides and Zeno, were 
among the masters of Grecian thought. It warred successfully with Posido- 
nia, and resisted all the attempts made against its independence by the Lu- 
canians. On its first contact with Rome, it Avas accepted into alliance, and 
remained for many years ixfcederata civitas, but ultimately received the Ro- 
man franchise, probably by the Lex Julia, B.C. 90. 

(i) Cumce or Cyme. Tradition said that Cum® AA-as a colony from Chalcis 
in Euboea, but placed its foundation at an era anterior to the colonizing pe- 
riod. It was probably founded really about the same time as Naxos in Sicily 
and Rhegium in Italy, i. e., towards the close of the eighth century. From 
the fertility and extent of its territory, it rapidly became a flourishing state. 
It planted the colonies of Misenum, Dicasarchia, Paltepolis, and Neapolis, on 
the Bay of Naples, and even joined its mother city, Chalcis, in founding the 
distant settlement of Zancle, in Sicily. It extended its influence deeply into 



182 GRECIAN STATES. [kook hi. 

the interior of Campania, and is said to have occupied with colonies the two 
inland cities of NoUi and Atella. Towards the close of the sixth century, its 
independence was threatened by Etruria ; but the Cumaians, under Aristo- 
demus, succeeded in defeating the immense host brought against them, and 
afterwards, by joining the Latins at Aricia, about B.C. 506, helped to break 
completely the Etruscan land power, and to drive the invader back across 
the Tiber. Aristodemus, thus a double victor, contrived shortly afterwards 
to effect a revolution, and to turn the previously existing oligarchy into a 
despotism. In b.c 497 he gave a refuge to the last Tarquin, and six years 
afterwards detained the Roman corn-ships as a set-off against his claims on 
the property which Tarquinius had left at Rome. But the harshness of his 
rule brought about his downfall, and on his expulsion (about b.c. 486), the 
oligarchy was restored. Soon after, Etruria renewed her attacks, but this 
time came by sea. The Cumseans implored the aid of Hiero, khig of Syra- 
cuse, whose victory (b.c. 474) over the Etruscan fleet completely delivered 
them from this danger. But a more dangerous foe was now approaching. 
The Samnites, about B.C. 425, began their attacks upon Campania, and rap- 
idly overran it. Capua fell, b.c. 423; and Cumie was able to resist only 
three years longer. The city was then taken by storm, the inhabitants mas- 
sacred, and Cumas sank into the condition of a second-rate Campanian town. 

The best work on the Greek colonies in Italy is that of Heyne, Prolusiones 
XVI. de civitatum Grcecarum per Magnam Grceciam et Siciliani institutis et 
legihus. Contained in the seventh volume of his Opuscula. 

iii. Colonies in Sicily. The colonies in Sicily occupied almost the entire 
eastern and southern shores of the island, but were comparatively scanty on 
the north coast. They may best be divided under the two heads of (1) Do- 
rian, and (2) Ionian, The chief Dorian settlements were Syracuse and Me- 
gara Hyblgea, on the east coast, and Gela, Camarina, Acragas or Agrigen- 
tum, and Selinus, on the south ; while the chief Ionian were Naxos, Leontini, 
Catana, and Zancle, in the east, and Himera in the north of the island. 
Among the settlements of minor importance may be named, Acroe and Cas- 
men£e, colonies of Syracuse ; Euboea, a colony of Megara Hyblasa ; Tauro- 
menium, which succeeded to Naxos ; Mylas, a colony of Zancle ; Calacta, a 
colony from the Peloponnese; and Heracleia Minoa, a colony of Selinus. 
Of these Tauromenium and Calacta were comparatively late foundations, 

(a) Syracuse. The history of Syracuse is, to a great extent, the histoiy 
of Sicily, The colony was founded from Corinth, in or about B.C. 735, and 
retained its independence for a space of 523 years. This space may be sub- 
divided into five lesser periods — viz., (1) from the foundation of the city to 
the commencement of the reign of Gelo, b,c. 736 to 484 ; (2) from the acces- 
sion of Gelo to the expulsion of his brother Thrasybulus, b.c. 484 to 467 ; (3) 
from the expulsion of Thrasybulus to the accession of Dionysius I,, B.C. 467 to 
405 ; (4) from the accession of Dionysius I. to the expulsion of Dionysius II,, 
B,c. 405 to 343 ; and (5) from the expulsion of Dionysius II, to the Roman 
conquest, B.C. 343 to 212. First Period, b.c. 736 to 484. Syracuse dur- 
ing this time did not rise to any great height of power, being overshadowed 
by the Italian cities Sybaris and Croton, Still, she founded the colonies of 
Acraj and Casmena;, and estabhshed a settlement at Camarina, b,c, 601. 
About B.C. 555 Camarina endeavored to make herself independent, but was 



PER. II., PART II.] COLONIES. 183 

attacked and destroyed by the parent city. Sixty years later, Syracuse was 
in turn attacked by Hippocrates, tyrant of Gela, who defeated the Syracusans 
on the Helorus, and forced them to cede Camarina. Soon afterwards internal 
troubles 15roke out. The landed aristocracy (Gamori), who had hitherto held 
exclusive possession of political privileges, were driven out by the lower orders, 
assisted by the slaves. They took refuge at Casmenoe, and from thence call- 
ed in the aid of Gelo, tyrant of Gela, who reinstated them, but while so doing 
estabhshed himself as despot of the town. Second Period, b.c. 484 to 4G7. 
Dynasty of Gelo and his two brothers, Hiero and Thrasybulus. To Gelo is 
attributable the special greatness of Syracuse. Being lord of all eastern and 
south-eastern Sicily, he not only made Syracuse his capital, but vastly in- 
creased its size and population by transferring to it the inhabitants of various 
other Greek towns. The power of Gelo induced the Greeks of the continent, 
when threatened by Xerxes, B.C. 480, to solicit his aid ; and it was not with- 
out reason that he required, as the condition on which he would grant it, the 
command of the allied forces either by land or sea. Although his offers were 
declined, he would still probably have taken part in the great Persian War, had 
it not been for the invasion of Sicily by the Carthaginians in the same year 
with Salamis, The victoiy of the Himera frustrated the Carthaginian attem])t, 
and greatly augmented Gelo's glory and poAver. He reigned, however, only 
three years longer, dying B.C. 477. His brother, Hiero, then mounted the 
throne and reigned for ten years in great splendor. His naval victory over 
the Etruscans has been noticed under the head of Cumse (supra, p. 181). He 
governed the Ionic cities under his sway with some severity, but was popular 
with his Dorian subjects, who were charmed with his brilliant court, his pat- 
ronage of the arts, and his Olympic and other victories. He assisted the Agri- 
gentines in throwing off the tyranny of Thrasidjeus, B.C. 472 ; and, dying five 
years afterwards, left his throne to his brother Thrasybulus, b.c. 467. Thra- 
sybulus, ruling tyrannically, was expelled from Sicily by a general rising of 
his subjects, after he had reigned eight months. Third Period, b.c. 4G7 to 
405. The fall of the Gelonian dynasty was followed by commotions in the 
other Greek towns of Sicily, and by struggles between the various claimants 
of the lands in the several states. The democracies, which were everywhere 
established, sometimes used their power harshly ; and numerous civil wars 
were the consequence. However, in B.C. 461, a general congress was held; 
terms were arranged between the opposing parties, and tranquillity was re- 
stored. A flourishing time succeeded. The various Greek cities were all 
recognized as indeipendent, and a general advance was made in opulence and 
splendor. Agrigentum especially rose to a great height of prosperity. In 
Syracuse some attempts at re-establishing tyranny were checked by the insti- 
tution of petalism, b.c. 454, which, having served its purpose and becoming 
absurd, was soon afterwards discarded. The attempt of the Sicel prince Du- 
cetius to establish a confederacy of the natives against the Greeks (b.c. 451) 
proved abortive, but had the unfortunate result of causing a quarrel between 
Syracuse and Agrigentum. A war followed between the first and second 
cities of Sicily, terminating in the humiliation of the latter, b.c. 446. Syra- 
cuse upon this revived her old schemes of a supremacy, and began to threat- 
en the independence of the Chalcidic cities, Naxos, Catana, and Leontini. 
These, about b.c. 428, invoked the aid of Athens, which gladly sent them 



184 GRECIAN STATES. [book iii. 

succors in b.c. 427. Alarmed at this interference, the Dorian cities called a 
congress in u.c. 424, which was attended by deputies from all the states, 
Ionic as well as Doric, and a general peace was agreed upon. The Atheni- 
ans quitted the island, but soon found an excuse to return, and in'B.c. 415 to 
413 made their great and disastrous expedition. Scarcely was Sicily deliver- 
ed from this danger, when another, and a worse, threatened it. Invited by 
the Egesteeans, a Carthaginian army under Hannibal, the son of Gisco, in- 
vaded Sicily in B.C. 409, and took Selinus and Himera, completely defeating 
the combined forces of the Greeks. (See p. 99. ) Three years afterwards the 
same commander took Agrigentum. Fourth Period, b.c. 405 to 343. 
Dynasty of the Dionysii. The advance of the Carthaginians after the sack 
of Agrigentum enabled Dionysius to obtain the supreme power at Syracuse. 
His reign commenced ominously by a defeat of his forces at Gela, followed 
by a mutiny of his troops. But a plague breaking out in the Carthaginian 
army, Himilco, who was now in command, consented to a peace, by which 
Carthage obtained almost the whole of the southern coast. Dionysius then 
turned his arms against the Ionian cities and the barbarians of the interior. 
HaA'ing reduced in succession Leontini, Naxos, and Catana, and established 
his power over most of the Sicel tribes, he (in b.c. 397) broke with Carthage ; 
recovered, one after another, Camarina, Gela, Agrigentum, and Selinus ; and 
even besieged and took the old Carthaginian settlement, Motya. But the 
next year the fortune of war turned against him. Himilco landed in Sicily 
with a vast army, recovered Motya, Selinus, and the other southern towns, 
took Messana, and even besieged Dionysius in Syracuse. But here again a 
plague spread itself in the Punic army (b.c. 395); the siege was raised; 
Himilco deserted his troops, and committed suicide. Hostilities, however, 
continued till b.c. 392, when peace was a second time concluded. Dionys- 
ius then for some years warred in Italy, forcing Rhegium and other places to 
submit to him, B.C. 387. In b.c. 383, and again in b.c. 368, he renewed his 
attempts to drive the Carthaginians from Sicily, but failed both times, and at 
his death, in b.c. 367, he left them in possession of full one-third of the island. 
Dionysius II. succeeded his father, a weak prince, at first kept under restraint 
by his uncle, Dio. Banishes Dio, b.c. 360. Troubles follow. Dio returns, 
B.C. 357, and rules till b.c. 353, when he is murdered by Calippus, who is 
driven out, B.C. 352, by Hipparinus. In B.C. 346, Dionysius returns and oc- 
cupies Ortygia, Avhile another aspirant to the supreme power, Hicetas, holds 
Achradina, and, to strengthen himself, calls in the Carthaginians. A patri- 
otic party in the city applies to Corinlli, which sends a body of troops under 
Timoleon, B.C. 344. Successes of Timoleon. Hicetas submits, and Dionys- 
ius II. goes into exile. Fifth Period, b.c. 343 to 212. Under the auspices 
of Timoleon, republican government was restored to Syracuse. War was re- 
newed with the Cai'thaginians, B.C. 341 ; and the tyrants were put down in 
the Siceliot cities. A grand attempt of Carthage to estabhsh her supremacy 
in B.C. 340 was frustrated by the victory of the Crimesus ; and peace was 
made on the old terms, which established the Halycus as the boundary be- 
tween the two powers. A time of prosperity followed, b.c. 340 to 318 ; but 
in B.C. 317 the adventurer Agathocles made himself master of Syracuse and 
brought terrible calamities upon Sicily. Agathocles first extended his power 
over the Greek cities by the aid of Carthage, after which, turning against his 



PER. II., PART II.] COLONIES. ISS 

allies, he strove to drive them from the island. Bat the decisive victory 
of Hamilcar at Ecnomus on the Himera (b.c. 310) upset ail his plans ; and 
nothing was left for him but to attempt a diversion by carrying the war into 
Africa. For four years, from B.C. 310 to 307, Carthage was made to trem- 
ble for her home dominion ; but the over-bold eftbrt could not be sustained. 
Though successful in several engagements, the Greek prince could make no 
impression on Carthage itself; and meanwhile Hamilcar continued the Avar 
in Sicily and several times assaulted Syracuse. In b.c. 307 Agathocles was 
forced to quit Africa, and shortly afterwards he concluded a peace, which 
left the Ilalycus still the boundary between the two nations. Agathocles 
now turned his attention to Italy ; Croton was sacked and the Bruttii en- 
gaged and defeated. Important results might have followed; but in b.c. 
289 Agathocles was murdered by Mainon, and with his death afl'airs in Sicily 
returned to a state of general confusion. Carthage took heart, and recom- 
menced her aggressions. The mercenaries of Agathocles, under the name 
of Mamertini, seized Messana. The Syracusans, in alarm, invited over Pyr- 
rhus from Italy, and thereby saved their city, but were obliged to submit for 
nearly three years (b.c. 278 to 276) to the authority of that imperious prince. 
The recall of Pyrrhus to the main-land left Syracuse once more free ; and she 
Avisely placed herself under the rule of Iliero II., said to have descended 
from one of the early Syracusan kings, who very soon restored her to her old 
position in Sicily. His Avar Avith the Mamertines, Avhich he carried on at first 
shigle-handed, but afterAvards in conjunction Avith Carthage, invoh'ed him for 
a time in hostilities Avith Rome, B.C. 2G4 to 2G3 ; but from this position he 
skillfully extracted himself by concluding a separate peace Avith the Romans 
in the last-named year, after AAdiich he continued throughout his reign their 
fiithful and firm ally. His death, in B.C. 215, led to commotions Avhich 
proved fatal to the independence of Syracuse. His grandson, Hieronymus, 
Avas murdered b.c. 214. Power Avas seized by Hippocrates and Epicydes. 
Syracuse deserted Rome, and espoused the side of Carthage. Tlie siege by 
Marcellus followed, Avhich, though protracted through the genius of Archi- 
medes, terminated, B.C. 212, in the fall of the city and the absorption of the 
state into Rome, 

The history of Syracuse is best giA'en in the standard histories of Greece, 
especially Thirl wall, chaps, xxii., xxv., xxvi., and Grote, chaps, xliii., 
Ivii.-lx., Ixxxi.-lxxxv., and xcvii. Important Avorks on its topography and 
antiquities have been Avritten by 

Letronne, Essai critique sur la topographie de Syracuse. Paris, 1812; 
8vo. 

Goeller, F., De situ et origine Syracusarum. Lipsite, 1818 ; 8vo. 
iBoNANNi, Delle Antiche Siracuse. Palermo, 1717 ; 2 vols, folio. 

Leake, Notes on Syracuse, in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Lit- 
erature ; 2d series, vol. iii. 

Caa'allari, Zur topographie von Syrakus. Gottingen, 1845 ; 8a-o. 

(J)) Megara Hyhla^a. Founded from Megara, about B.C. 726. Sent out* 
a colony to Selinus, about b.c. 626. Attacked and destroyed by Gelo, b.c. 
481. Its inhabitants transferred to Syracuse. 

(c) Gela. Founded from Rhodes and Crete, b.c. 690. Originally called 
Lindii. Sent out a colony to Agrigentum, b.c. 582. Appears first as an 



186 GRECIAN STATES. [book hi. 

important state about b.c. 505, when the original oligarchy was subverted by 
Cleander, who succeeded in making himself despot, and reigned for seven 
years, from B.C. 505 to 498. He was succeeded by his brother, Hippocrates, 
an ambitious j^rince, who endeavored to make himself master of all the other 
Greek towns. lie succeeded in conquering Leontini, Callipolis, Naxos, and 
Zanele, which last he made over to the Samians ; and he warred against the 
Syracusans witli so much success that he compelled them to purchase peace 
by the cession of their colony, Camarina. His reign lasted from b.c. 498 to 
491. At his death the supreme authority was seized by Gelo, who soon after 
(B.C. 485) conquered Syracuse and made it his capital. Gela now declined 
in power. Half its inhabitants were removed to Syracuse, and the remainder 
placed under the government of Hiero, Gelo's brother. The subjection of 
Gela to Syracuse continued till the expulsion of Thrasybulus, b.c. 466, when 
it recovered its independence, and grew strong enough to send out a colony 
to Camarina. A prosperous time now set in, Gela remained on terms of 
close friendship with the other Dorian cities, and was unmolested by any 
enemy. During the Athenian expedition it adhered steadily to the cause of 
Syracuse. At length, in b.c. 406, misfortune fell on the Geloans : the Car- 
thaginians, in their advance along the southern coast, besieged and took the 
city, and the inhabitants, quitting their home, sought a refuge at Leontini. 
Tliey were restored after the peace of b.c 405, but as Carthaginian subjects ; 
and henceforth Gela loses all its importance. It follows, for the most part, 
the fortunes of Syracuse ; but owes its final ruin to its own colony, Agrigen- 
tum, whose tyrant, Phintias, destroyed its walls and buildings, b.c. 280, and 
removed its inhabitants to the city which he founded at the mouth of the 
Himera. (See under " Agrigentum.") 

(c?) Camarina. This city was founded by the Syracusans, b.c, 601. About 
fifty years after the date of its foundation, it made an attempt to shake off 
the Syracusan yoke, but failing, was completely destroyed by the parent city. 
Some time after this, about b.c. 495, the site was ceded by Syracuse to Hip- 
pocrates of Gela, who rebuilt and repeopled the place. His successor, Gelo, 
once more destroyed the city, and transferred its inhabitants to Syracuse ; af- 
ter which the site was unoccupied till the downfall of Gelo's dynasty, b.c. 466, 
when the city received its third and final foundation at the hand of the Gelo- 
ans. It now rose rapidly into power and importance, occupying a peculiar 
position among the Sicilian towns, since, though of Dorian origin, its jealousy 
and fear of its near neighbor, Syracuse, led it to take part with the Ionic 
cities, Naxos, Catana, and Leontini. When the Athenians first appeared in 
Sicily, B.C. 427, Camarina joined them ; but in the great expedition, b.c. 415, 
it at first held aloof and then sided with Syracuse. A fatal blow was inflicted 
on it by the great Carthaginian invasion, b.c. 405, from which it never re- 
covered. Attached generally to Syracuse in the wars which followed, it suf- 
fered much at the hands of the Carthaginians and the Mamertines. About 
B.C. 258 it finally passed into the possession of the Romans, 

(e) Agrigentum. Agrigentum was, next to Syracuse, the most important 
city in Sicily. Founded from Gela, b.c, 582, it early surpassed its mother 
state, and about b.c. 570 to 540 attained to great power and prosperity under 
Phalaris, the first of the Sicilian tyrants. On the assassination of Phalaris it 
seems to have regained its freedom ; but in b.c, 488 it fell again under a des- 



PER. II., TART II.] COLONIES. 187 

pot, one Thero, the son of -^nesidemus, who was descended from the de- 
stroyer of Phalaris. In alliance with Gelo, who married his daughter, this 
prince proceeded to make attacks on some of the Greek towns, as particularly 
Himera, which he conquered. The king of Himera, Terillus, called in the 
aid of Carthage ; and the invasion followed which Gelo and Thero repulsed 
by the victory of b.c. 480. Thero ruled mildly, and left the crown to his son, 
Thrasydoeus, whose cruelty caused his subjects to rebel, and to expel him, with 
the aid of Hiero, after he had reigned less than a year, b.c. 471. Agrigentum 
now established a democracy, under which it flourished greatly for nearly sixty 
years. Magnificent public buildings were erected ; a vast trade was carried 
on, more especially Avith Africa and Gaul ; and the wealth and luxury of the 
citizens became proverbial. Philosophy was cultivated, and the fame of the 
city was spread far and wide through the wisdom of Empedocles and the 
rhetorical ability of Polus. In her wars, Agrigentum generally fought on the 
side of Syracuse ; but deeming herself aggrieved by the conduct of that state 
in the contest with the Sicel chief, Ducetius, she took up arms to avenge her- 
self, but was completely defeated on the Himera (b.c. 446). The ill-feeling 
produced by this blow was probably the chief cause of her standing wholly 
aloof when her rival was threatened by Athens, b.c. 415 to 413. Eight 
years later the prosperity of Agrigentum came to an end, through her capture 
by the Carthaginians, who plundered and destroyed the city. A second 
Agrigentum arose, but never grew into very much importance. Enlarged 
and strengthened by Timoleon, about B.C. 340, she was able for a while to 
resist Agathocles, but was defeated by him on his return from Africa, b.c. 
3t)7, and compelled to sue for peace. The death of Agathocles enabled her 
to resume ambitious projects. Under a tyrant, named Phintias, she extended 
her dominion considerably, took and destroyed Gela, founded Phintias on the 
Southern Himera, and became mistress of a large portion of the interior. 
Pyrrhus, however, on his landing, found her submissive, b.c. 278 ; and at the 
commencement of the first Punic War, b.c. 264, she admitted a Carthaginian 
garrison. From this time for above fifty years the possession of Agrigentum 
was disputed between Carthage and Rome, to the latter of whom she re- 
mained permanently subject from her recovery by La;vinus, b.c. 210, 

(/) Selinus. Founded from Megara Hybla^a, about b. c. 626. Had wars 
from a very early time with Egesta. Founded Heracleia Minoa before b.c. 
520. Had fallen about this time under the sway of a tyrant, Peithagoras, 
who was put down by the Selinuntians, assisted by the Spartan Euryleon, 
one of the companions of Dorieus. Euryleon then seized the crown, but 
held it for a very short space, as the Selinuntians revolted and put him to 
death. According to Diodorus, Selinus joined the Carthaginians on their 
first invasion of Sicily, b.c. 480, and promised Hamilcar a contingent, but 
failed to send it. After the defeat of the Carthaginians and the downfall of 
the tyrants, Selinus participated in the general Sicilian prosperity. Her quar- 
rels, however, continued with Egesta ; and the appeals of the Egestasans, who 
were the weaker party, produced, first, the great Athenian expedition, b.c. 
415, and then the Carthaginian invasion of b.c. 409. The first result of the 
latter was the siege and capture of Selinus, which thenceforth continued, with 
few and short intervals, subject to the Carthaginian authority. About b.c. 250 
the Carthaginians destroyed it, and transferred its inhabitants to Lilybsem. 



188 GRECIAN STATES. [book hi. 

{g) Naxos, the earliest of the Greek settlements in Sicil}^, was founded from 
Chalcis, in Euboea, B.C. 736. Its colonists were so numerous that in six years' 
time it was able to plant a settlement at Leontini, and soon afterwards one at 
Catana. Together with its daughter cities, it seems to have flourished until 
the rise of the great Geloan dynasty, when it lost its independence. Taken 
by Hippocrates, about B.C. 498, it passed under the rule of Gelo, and then of 
Hiero, the latter of whom removed its inhabitants to Leontini, and occv.pied 
Naxos with new settlers. It continued, however, Ionic and Chalcidian. Re- 
covering independence on the fall of the dynasty of Gelo, it re-entered into 
close relations with its daughter cities; and from about B.C. 460, Naxos, 
Leontini, and Catana form an Ionic league, which is opposed to a Doric league 
under Syracuse. The preponderance of the Dorians forced the lonians to 
look out for foreign aid, and Athens was invited in b.c. 427 and assisted in 
B.C. 415. The discomfiture of the Athenians was followed by war between 
the league and Syracuse, which continued till the menacing attitude of the 
Carthaginians in b.c. 409 suspended hostilities between the Greek States. 
Naxos bore her share in resisting the invaders; but on peace being made she 
was immediately attacked by Dionysius, Avho took and destroyed the town, 
and sold its inhabitants for slaves, b.c. 403. Tauromenium afterwards grew 
up near the site of Naxos, and being partly peopled by former Naxians was 
occasionally, but incorrectly, given the name. 

(h) Leontini. The history of Leontini is closely connected with that of 
Naxos. It was founded from Naxos, b.c. 730, and itself founded the colony of 
Euboea shortly afterwards. About b.c. 498 it fell under the sway of HyD- 
pocrates; and about b.c. 476 received the Naxians and Catanians_who Avere 
removed from their homes by Hiero. It recovered independence, b.c. 466, 
on the fall of Thrasybulus. As the nearest neighbor to Syracuse of the three 
Chalcidic cities, it had to bear the brunt of her attacks. Hence it Avas the 
special danger of Leontini which caused the first invitation to be given to 
Athens ; and the failure of the great Athenian expedition was followed rap- 
idly by a Syracusan attack upon the city, B.C. 412, which resulted in its cap- 
ture and annexation. Occasionally, indeed, during the troublous period — 
from B.C. 409. to 270 — it asserted and even exercised independence; but the 
periods of autonomy were brief, and for the most part it was a mere depend- 
ency on Syracuse. It became Roman at the same time as that citv, b.c. 
212. 

(i) Catana. Founded from Naxos. Date of the foundation uncertain, 
but probably earlier than b.c. 700. Charondas, about b.c. 550, gave Catana 
a code of laws. Hiero of Syracuse having conquered it, about b.c. 476, 
transferred its inhabitants to Leontini, replacing them by a body of 10,000 
new citizens, and at the same time changing the name of the city to ^tna. 
But, at the downfall of Thrasybulus, these new citizens Avere expelled ; and 
the former inhabitants, returning, brought back the old name. Leagued 
Avith Naxos and Leontini, Catana after this maintained her independence for 
more than half a century. In b.c. 415 she admitted the Athenians, and 
served as the basis for their earlier operations against Syracuse. After Dio- 
nysius I. had made peace Avith Carthage, b.c. 405, he took Catana, sold the 
inhabitants into slavery, and gaA^e the city to some Campanian mercenaries. 
After this the place became politically insignificant ; but its material pros- 



FEU. II., PAKT ii.J COLONIES. 189 

perity was not much lessened, and it continued to be a wealthy and populous 
city, even under the Romans. 

(j) Zancle, afterwards Messana. The fortunes of Zancle' were very pe- 
culiar. Originally it was a Chalcidic city, being founded from Cumo3, in 
Italy, in conjunction with the mother state, Chalcis, in Euboea, probably 
about B.C. 600 to G60. It early sent out a colony to Mylai, on the north 
coast of the island, and in B.C. 64:8 it sent another still farther westward to 
Himera. In b. c. 494, desirous of filling up the gap between these two cities, 
Zancle' invited over a body of Samians, who wished to emigrate in conse- 
quence of the suppression of the Ionian revolt. The Samians consented ; 
but, instead of carrying out the arrangement, they, at the instigation of 
Anaxilaiis of Rhegium, took violent possession of Zancle'. Soon afterwards, 
about B.C. 485, that monarch attacked and expelled them, supplying their 
place by a body of Rhegines, and at the same time changing the name of the 
city to Messana. The place continued dependent on Rhegium until b.c. 461, 
when it shook off the yoke and became free. From this time till B.C. 42.'> 
the Messanians flourished greatly, but in that year they were compelled to sur- 
render to Athens, and became involved in the troubles which Athenian am- 
bition brought upon Sicily. However, the lesson thus taught them was not 
without its use ; since it induced them to preserve a strict neutrality at the 
time of the great Athenian expedition, B.C. 415 to 413. In the Carthagini- 
an wars, Messana escaped injury till b.c. 396, when it was taken by Himil- 
co and completely levelled with the ground. On the retirement of the Car- 
thaginians, Dionysius restored it, and made great use of it in his wars with 
Rhegium. At his death Messana once more became free and rose in pow- 
er ; but in B.C. 312 it fell under the power of Agathocles, who treated it with 
extreme severity. Still worse calamities, however, came on it thirty years 
later, upon the death of the tyrant. His mercenary troops, chiefly Campani- 
ans, had agreed to quit Sicily, and were assembled at Messana, as the natural 
point of embarkation, when they suddenly turned against the inhabitants, 
massacred them, and, under the name of Mamertini, seized and held the city, 
which henceforth ceased to be a Greek state, about b.c. 282. 

(k) Himera was founded from Zancle', as above stated, in B.C. 648. In the 
early times it does not seem to have been very flourishing; and there is rea- 
son to believe that in the sixth century B.C. it fell under the dominion of the 
Agrigentine tyrant, Phalaris. Early in the fifth centuiy, however (about 
B.C. 490), we find it once more independent ; and about b.c 490 to 485 it 
acquired importance under Terillus, a native despot, connected by alliance 
and intermarriage with Anaxilaiis of Rhegium. Terillus, attacked by Thero 
of Agrigentum, invited over the Carthaginians, B.C. 480, Avho came with a 
vast armament, evidently intending to conquer the island. The discomfiture 
of this host by Gelo and Thero (b.c. 480) left the latter in undisputed pos- 
session of Himera, which he placed under his son,*Thrasyd£eus, a youth of a 
tyrannical disposition. Quarrels, between Thrasyda^us and his subjects fol- 
lowed, which induced Thero to banish vast numbers of the citizens and to 
supply their place with new settlers, chiefly Dorians, who made Plimera into 
a Doric city, B.C. 476. On the expulsion of Thrasyda;ns, B.C. 472, Avith the 
help of Hiero, Himera became free, and shortly afterwards it helped the 
Syracusans to expel the tyrant Thrasybulus, b.c. 466. The exiles upon this 



190 GRECIAN STATES. [book hi. 

returned, and such arrangements were made that the city never afterwards 
suffered from civil discord. In the Athenian war of B.C. 415 to 413 Himera 
gave a steady support to Syracuse ; but five years after its close, the second 
Carthaginian invasion dealt it a fatal blow, the city being taken and destroyed 
by Hannibal, b.c. 408, and never afterwards rebuilt. Thermas, sometimes 
called Thermai Himerenses, which grew up at a short distance from the site 
of Himera, took its place, but never attained to any importance, remaining, 
with few and brief exceptions, subject to Carthage, until it passed into the 
possession of Rome, about B.C. 249. The Romans treated it with excep- 
tional fiivor. 

The work of Heyne, mentioned (p. 182), is the best on the history of the 
Sicilian colonies generally. Good monographs have been written on some 
of the more important cities. Among these the following are best worthy of 
attention : 

^lEFERT, O., Akragas und sein Gebiet. Hamburg, 1845 ; 8vo. Zancle- 
Messana. 

Hei-sga^vm, Selinus und sein Gebiet. Leipsic, 1827; 8vo. 

On the antiquities of the island the following works may be consulted : 

Serra di Falco, Antichita delta Sicilia. Palermo, 1834-39 ; 5 vols, 
f'lio. 

BiscARi, Viaggio per le antichita della Sicilia. Palermo, 1817 ; 8vo. 

ToRREMUzzA, SiciUcB urbium, popidorum, regum quoque et tyrannorum nu- 
mismata. Paleraio, 1781 ; folio. 

Castello, G. L., Sicilice et objacentium insularum veterum inscriptionum 
nova collectio. Palermo, 17G9 ; folio. Also 

Keerl, J. H., Siciliens vorzUglichste Miinzen und Steinschriften aus dem 
Alterthuine. Gotha, 1802. 

iv. Colonies on the Coasts of Gaid and Spain. By far the most impor- 
tant of these was Massilia (Marseilles), on the coast of Gaul, a colony of the 
Phocieans. It was probably founded about b.c. GOO, when the coast was 
still in the occupation of the Ligurians. The relations of the colony with 
the natives were generally amicable ; but we have an account of one attempt 
to surprise and destroy it, Avhich terminated in foilure. Massilia had a small 
territory, but one fertile in corn and Avine. Her trade was large, and was 
earned on both by sea and land. Her merchants visited the interior of Gaul, 
and even obtained tin and lead by this overland route from the Scilly Islands. 
She extended her colonies eastward and westward along the coast of Gaul, 
and even ])lanted some in Spain. The best known of these settlements were 
Olbia (nenr Hyeres), Antipolis (now Antibes), Nica?a (Nice), and Moncecus 
(Monaco) These all lay to the east. To tlie west were Agatha, Rhoda, 
Emporia;, Hemeroscopeium, and Masnaca, the last named not for from Mala- 
ga. A s]>ecial jealousy existed between Massilia and Carthage, which led 
often to hostilities ; but the victory always remained with the little Greek 
state. More dangerous was the enmity of the Ligurians and Gauls, whose 
near neighborhood caused the Massiliots constant alarm. However, with 
the aid of the Romans, to Avhom Massilia allied herself as early as b.c. 218, 
these foes were kept in check, and Massilia preserved her freedom until the 
time of the Roman Civil Wars. Having then sided witli Pompey, she was 
stormed bv Caesar, b.c. 49. Even after this she retained a nominal inde- 



PKR. II., PART II.] COLONIES. 191 

pendence, being reckoned a "foederata eivitas" as late as the time of Fliny. 
The constitution of Massilia avos an oligarchy. A council of six hundred 
members (Tifiovx'^''\ how appointed we know not, but who held office for 
life, possessed the monopoly of political power. These deputed the adminis- 
tration to a committee of fifteen, of whom three were presidents. 

Numerous works have been written on the history and constitution of Mas- 
silia ; but they are not of very much value. The best are — 

JoHANSEN, J. C, Veteris Massilice res et instituta. Kiel, 1818. 

Brucknek, a., Historia Reipuhlicce Massiliensium. Gottingen, 1826; 
8vo. 

v. Colonies on the Coast of Africa. The African colonies, like those on 
the coast of Gaul and Spain, all issued from one source. This was Gyrene', 
founded by adventurers from Thera, at the instigation of the Delphic oracle, 
about B.C. 631. Gyrene was at first governed by kings, viz. : 1. Battus I., 
the founder. Reigned forty years, from B.C. 631 to 591. Succeeded by his 
son, 2. Arcesilaiis I., who reigned sixteen years, from b.c. 591 to 575. 
Thus far Gyrene was tranquil, but not particularly prosperous. 3. Battus 
II., surnamed "the Happy," succeeded. In his reign the Delphic oracle 
induced the stream of Greek colonization to set steadily towai-ds Africa ; and 
Gyrene' grew rapidly in population and importance. Fresh territory Avas oc- 
cupied ; and when the native tribes, robbed of their lands, called the Egyp- 
tians to their aid, Apries, the Egyptian monarch, was repulsed, and his army 
almost wholly destroyed, about B.C. 570. Battus II. was succeeded by his 
son, 4. Arcesilaiis II., who had dissensions with his brothers, which led to 
the founding of Barca, whither they betook themselves. The Libyans of the 
neighborhood prefemng to attach themselves to Barca, Arcesilaiis attacked 
them, but suffered a severe defeat. Upon this he fell sick, and was mur- 
dered by his brother Learchus ; Avho was in his turn put to death by Eryxo, 
the widow of Arcesilaiis, about b.c. 540. 5. Battus III., surnamed "the 
Lame," inherited the croAvn from his fatlier. Under him the troubles of the 
state increased; and, appeal being made to Delphi, Demonax of Mantinea 
was called in to arrange affairs. He confined the royal authority Avithin very 
narroAv limits, and made a fresh division of the citizens into tribes upon an 
ethnic basis, about b.c. 538. 6. Arcesilaiis III., the son of Battus the Lame, 
succeeded, about b.c. 530. Submitted to the Persians b.c. 525. Glaimed 
all the pnvileges of the early kings, and in the struggle that followed Avas 
forced to fly. Gollected troops in Samos and effected his return ; but, using 
his power cruelly, Avas murdered by his subjects at Barca. 7. Battus IV., 
his son, became king ; but Phei'etima, grandmother of this Battus, Avas, as it 
Avould seem, for some time regent, Battus being (it is probable) a minor. 
Flight of Pheretima to Egypt and expedition of Aryandes, about B.C. 514. 
Barca taken. Pheretima soon after\A'ards dies. Battus reigned till about 
B.C. 470, Avhen he Avas succeeded by his son, 8. Ai-cesilaiis IV., Avho distin- 
guished himself by his Pythian victories, and reigned probably till about B.C. 
430. On his death, his son, another Battus, Avas expelled, and sought a ref- 
uge at the Gyrena;an colony of Euesperides. A democratic republic AA'as noAV 
established, Avhich seems, however, to have worked but ill. Violent party 
contests, from time to time, shook the state ; and it fell more than once un- 
der the sway of tyrants. Still, in many respects, Gyrene' continued to flour- 



192 GRECIAN STATES. [hook hi. 

ish. Its trade, particularly in the celebrated silphium, remained great ; its 
architecture was handsome; its sculpture far from contemptible ^ it took an 
important part in the favorite pursuit of the Greeks, philosophy, as the Cy- 
renaic School, founded by the Cyrenasan Aristippus, and the New Academy, 
founded by another Cyrena^an, Canieades, sufficiently show. Moreover, it 
contributed to Greek literature the poetry of Callimachus, and, in Christian 
times, the rhetoric of Synesius. It is uncertain Avhen the dependence of Cy- 
lene on Persia ceased ; but it can scarcely have continued later than the re- 
volt of Egypt under Nepherites, b.c. 405, In b.c. 332, the Cyrenaians sub- 
mitted to Alexander ; and the whole of the Cyrena'ica became thenceforth a 
dependency of Eg}'pt, felling successively to the Ptolemies and the Romans. 

Ihe chief settlements in the Cyrena'ica, besides Cyrene, were, 1. Barca. 
Founded, about b.c. 554, by seceders from Cyrene in conjunction with na- 
tive Libyans. Hence the city had always a semi-African charactei*. Sub- 
mitted to Cambyses, b. c. 525. Destroyed by Pheretima, aided by Aryandes, 
about B.C. 514, in revenge for the murder of her son. The inhabitants re- 
moved to Bactria. The new Barca, which grew up after this, was always an 
insignificant place. 2. Euesperides, oi' Hesperides. Founded by Arcesilaiis 
IV. , about B. c. 450. Only important in the time of the Ptolemies, when it 
became Berenice. 3. Tauchira, or Teuchira. Probably founded by Barca. 
Belonged, at any i-ate, to the Barcseans. Became Arsinoe under the Ptole- 
mies. 4. Apollonia, the port of Cyrene. This city, with the four previously 
mentioned, constituted the Cyrenaic " Pentapolis. " 

On the history of Cyrene the student may consult with advantage the 
works of 

Hardion, J., Histoirc de la ville de Cyrene, in the Memoires de VAcademie 
cles Inscriptions, vol. iii. And 

Thrige, J. P., Res Cyrenensium a jorimordiis inde civitatis, etc. Hafnise, 
1828; 8vo. 

Ample light has been thrown on the topography and antiquities by modern 
travellers. The best works are — 

Della Gella, Viaggio da Tripoli di Barbaria alls Frontieri Occidentali 
deW Egitto. Genoa, 1819. 

Beechby, Expedition to Explore the North Coast of Africa. London, 
1828; 4to. 

Pacho, F. R., Relation d'un Voyage dans la Marmarique, la Cijrenaique, 
etc. Paris, 1827 ; 4to. 

Hamilton, J., Wanderings in North Africa. London, 185G ; 8vo. 

Barth, Wanderungen durch das Punische und Kyrena'ische Kiistenland. 
Berlin, 1849 ; 8vo. And the same writer's Travels in North and Central 
Africa. London, 1857-58 ; 5 vols. 8vo. 

The settlement of Nauci'atis in Egypt was not, properly speaking, a Greek 
colony ; but some mention of it may fitly be made here. Its position re- 
sembled that of Canton before the first Chinese war, or of Nagasaki and 
Jeddo at the present day. It was not relinquished to the Greeks, but was 
simply the place, and the only place, in Egypt where they were allowed to 
settle. A large Greek population was settled there after the time of Amasis, 
B.C. 5G9 to 525, composed chiefly of emigrants from the coasts and islands 
of Western Asia, The town boasted four Greek temples ; and the Greeks 



PKR. 111.] SOURCES OF THE LATER HISTOR Y. ".^^ ^ j^^ 

had the free exercise of their religion, the appointment of their own magis- 
trates, and the power of exacting customs and harbor-dues. The Naucra- 
tites manufactured porcelain and wreaths of flowers (artificial ?). The place 
continued to flourish until the Alexandrine era, when it declined as Alexan- 
dria rose into greatness. 

THIRD PERIOD. 

Fro7n the Commencement of the Wars with Persia, B.C. 500, to the Battle 
of Chceroneia, B.C. 338. 

Sources. For the first portion of this period, from b.c. 500 to 479, 
Herodotus (books v. to ix.) is our chief authority; but he may be supple- 
mented to a considerable extent from Plutarch ( Vit. Themist. and Aristid.) 
and Nepos ( Vit. Miltiad. , Themist. , Aristid. , and Pausan. ). For the second 
portion of the period, from B.C. 479 to 431, the outline of Thucydides (book 
i. chaps. 24 to 14G) is of primary importance, especially for the chronology ; but 
the details must be filled in from Diodorus (book xi. and first half of book 
xii.), and, as before, from Plutarch and Nepos, (The latter has one "Life" 
only bearing on this period, that of Cimon ; the former has two, those of 
Cimon and Pericles.) For most of the third portion of the period, the time 
of the Peloponnesian War — b.c. 431 to 404 — we have the invaluable work 
of Thucydides (books ii. to viii.) as our single and sufficient guide; but, 
where the work of Thucydides breaks off, we must supplement his continuator, 
Xenophon (Hellenica, books i. and ii.), by Diodorus (last half of book xii.). 
For the fourth portion of the period, from the close of the Peloponnesian War 
to the battle of Mantineia — b.c. 404 to 362 — Xenophon in his Hellenica, his 
Anabasis, and his Agesilaus, is our main authority : he is to be compared 
with Diodorus (books xiii. to xv.), Nepos {Vit. Lysand., Conon., Pelop., 
Epaminond., and Ages.), and Plutarch {Vit. Pelop., Artaxerxis, and Ages.). 
For the remainder of the history — from b.c. 362 to 338 — in default of con- 
temporary writers, we are thrown primarily on the sixteenth book of Dio- 
dorus ; but perhaps more real knowledge of the period is to be derived from 
the speeches of the orators, especially those of Demosthenes and^scHiNEs. 
The lives of Phocion and Demosthenes in Plutarch, and those of Iphicrates, 
Chabrias, Timotheus, and Datames in Nepos, further illustrate the period, 
which also receives some light ironi Justin, Pausanias, and a few other 
authors. 

The most important modern works on the entire period from b.c. 500 to 
338 are those to which reference has been already made under the " Sources " 
for the "First" and "Second Period." (See pp. 137 and 143.) But the 
following may be mentioned as specially illustrative of the "Third Period:" 

Bakthelemy, Voyage dujeune Anacharsis en Grece. Paris, 1788 ; 4 vols. 
4to. This work is one which will never become antiquated, combining, as it 
does, vast learning with remarkable refinement and good taste. 

Becker, W. A. , Charikles, Bilder alt-griechische Sitte. Leipsic ; 3 vols. 
8vo. Translated into English by the Rev. F. Metcalfe. London, 1845 ; 8vo. 

BuLWER, Sir E. L., Athens, its Rise and Fall ; with Views of the Liter- 
ature, Philosophy, and Social Life of the Athenian People. London, 1837 ; 
2 vols. 8vo. 

9 



194 GRECIAN STATES. [book hi. 

Magnificent works on the monuments of Greece, arcliitectnral and other, 
which belong chiefly to this period, have been published in the present cen- 
tury. Among these the following ai-e the most remarkable : 

Stuart and Revett, The Antiquities of Athens Measured and Deline- 
ated. London, 1762-181G ; 4 vols, folio. The 2d Edition was published 
in 1825-27. 

CocKERELL, SiR C, Temples of JEgina and Bassce. (See p. 165.) 

Wordsworth, Christopher, Greece ; Pictorial^ Descriptive^ and Histor~ 
ical. London, 1852 ; large 8vo. 

Choiseul-Gouffier, Voyage pittoresque de la Grece. Paris, 1782-1822 ; 
2 vols, folio. 

1. The tendency of the Greek States, in spite of their sep- 
aratist leanings, towards consolidation and union round one 
Tendency of or niore Centres, has been already noticed. (See 
^^ifn^watfo" p. 145.) Up to the date of the Persian War, 
the Greek na- ^P^i'ta was the State whicli exercised the greatest 
tiou. centralizing force, and gave the most promise of 
uniting under its leadership the scattered members of the 
Hellenic body. Events prior to the Persian War had been 
gradually leading up to the recognition of a Spartan head- 
ship. It required, however, the actual occurrence of tlie war 
to bring rapidly to maturity what hitherto had only existed 
in embryo — to place at once vividly before the whole race 
the consciousness of Hellenic unity, to drive Sparta to the 
assumption of leadership, and to induce the other Greek 
states to acquiesce calmly in the new position occupied by 
one of their number. 

2. The beneficial influence of an extreme common danger 
was not limited to the time of its actual existence. The tend- 
ency towards consolidation, havino^ once obtained 

General rec- *' . ' . ?• 

ognitiou oihe- a certain amount of strength, did not disappear 
gertiomcs. y^ii^i the causc which brought it into being. From 
the time of the Persian invasion, we notice a general inclina- 
tion of the Greeks to gather themselves together into confed- 
©rations under leaders. The chief states, Sparta, Athens, 
Boeotia, Argos, are recognized as possible holders of such a 
hegemony ; and the history from this time thus possesses a 
character of unity for which we look in vain at an earlier 
period. 

Immediate causes which led to the First Persian War. 1. Flight of Ilip- 
pias to Sardis, and influence which he exercised over Artaphernes. 2. Ke- 
volt of the lonians, and share taken by Athens and Eretria in the burning 



pjiR. III. J FIKIST PERSIAN WAR. I95 

of Sardis, B.C. 500. (See p. 157.) 3. Treatment of the heralds of Darius 
by Athens and Sparta, u.c. 491. These causes, however, at the most has- 
tened an attempt, which would in any case have been made, to extend the 
Persian dominion over continental Greece! 

3. The first expedition of Mardoijius having been frus- 
trated, in part by a storm, in part by the opposition of the 
Expeditious Bryges, a tribe of Thracians, it was resolved, be- 
aiSfDaUs- fore a second expedition was sent out, to send 
athoD,S^f ""'" lieralds and summon the Greek states severally 
4»o- ' • to surrender. The result of this policy was strik- 
ing. The island states generally, and many of the conti- 
nental ones, made their submission. Few, comparatively, 
rejected the overture. Athens and Sparta, however, marked 
their abhorrence of the proposal made them in the strongest 
possible way. In spite of the universally-received law, that 
the persons of heralds were sacred, they put the envoys of 
Darius to death, and thus placed themselves beyond all pos- 
sibility of further parley with the enemy. 

The submission of ^gina to Persia at this time is made a subject of com 
plaint by Athens at Sparta. Punishment of ^gina by Cleomenes in conse- 
quence, and deposition of Demaratus, who attempts to thwart the expedition. 

Expedition of Datis and Artaphernes, B.C. 490. Occupation of Naxos. 
Capture of Eretria. Battle of Marathon, and failure of a subsequent attempt 
to surprise Athens. Tardy arrival of the Spartan succors. Unhappy end 
of MUtiades. 

4. The victory of Marathon gave Greece a breathing-space 
before the decisive trial of strength between herself and Per- 
Great aug- sia, which was manifestly impending. ISTo one 
the^Mheuiaii conceived that the danger was past, or that the 
^avy. Great King would patiently accept his defeat, 
without seeking to avenge it. The ten years which inter- 
vened between Marathon and Thermopylae were years of 
preparation as much to Greece as to Persia. Athens espe- 
cially, under the wise guidance of Themistocles, made her- 
self ready for the coming conflict by the apj)lication of her 
great pecuniary resources to the increase of her navy, and 
by the training of her people in nautical habits. The war 
between this state and ^gina, which continued till e.g. 481, 
was very advantageous to the Grecian cause, by stimulating 
these naval efforts, and enabling Themistocles to persuade his 
countrymen to their good. 



196 GRECIAN STATES. [book hi. 

Influence of Themistocles at this time secured by the ostracism of his rival, 
Aristides, b.c. 482, probably. 

5. The military preparations of Darius in the years b.c. 
489 to 487, and those of Xerxes in b.c. 484 to 481, must have 
Hellenic Con- been Well kjiown to the Greeks, who could not 
fhristhmusf cloubt the quarter in which it was intended to 
B.C. 4S1. strike a blow. Accordingly, we find the year b.c. 
481 given up to counter-preparations. A general congress 
held at the Isthmus — a new feature in Greek history — ar- 
ranged, or suppressed, the internal quarrels of the states at- 
tending it ; assigned the command of the confederate forces, 
both by land and sea, to Sparta ; and made an attempt to 
obtain assistance from distant, or reluctant, members of the 
Hellenic body — Argos, Crete, Corcyra, and Sicily. A reso- 
lution was at the same time taken to meet the invader at 
the extreme northern boundary of Greece, where it was 
thought that the pass of Tempe offered a favorable position 
for resistance. 

6. The force sent to Thessaly, finding the pass of Tempe 
untenable, withdraws at once ; and the position of Thermop- 
Greatinva- ylsB and Artcmisium is chosen for the combined 
IT"k.o^48o. resistance to the foe by sea and land. Though 
Thermopyis, ^^^^* position is forccd, Attica overrun, and Ath- 
saiamis, pia- q^is, taken and burnt, in revengje for Sardis, yet 

taea, and My- ' ~ , \ 

caie. the defeat of his vast fleet at Salamis (b.c. 480) 

alarms Xerxes, and causes him to retire with all his remain- 
ing vessels and the greater part of his troops. Mardonius 
stays behind with 350,000 picked men, and the fate of Greece 
has to be determined by a land battle. This is fought the 
next year,B.c. 479, at Plat9ea,by the Spartan king, Pausanias, 
and the Athenian general, Aristides, who with 69,000 men 
completely defeat the Persian general, take his camp, and 
destroy his army. A battle at Mycale (in Asia Minor), on 
the same day, effects the destruction of the remnant of the 
Persian fleet ; and thus the entire invading armament, both 
naval and military, is swept away, the attempt at conquest 
having issued in utter failure. 

Details of the "War. The Greeks evacuate Thessaly early in the year. 
Fresh deliberation at the Isthmus, and resolve to occupy Thermopylte and 
Artemisium. Nine thousand men under Leonidas take post at Thermopyla), 
and 271 vessels under Eurybiades guard the strait at Artemisium. Advance 



PER. III.] SECOND PERSIAN WAR. 197 

of Xerxes to Malis. Fruitless assaults on the Greek position during two 
days. Way of turning the position made known to the Persians by Ephial- 
tes. Leonidas dismisses half his army. Gallant struggle of the remainder 
tenninates in the complete destruction of all, except 400 Thebans, who are 
made prisoners. About the same time engagements take place between the 
Persian fleet of above 1000 vessels, and the very inferior Greek fleet at Ar- 
temisium, without any decisive advantage to either side ; but the forcing of 
Thermopylas by the Persian army induces Eurybiades to retire down the Eu- 
ripus and bring his fleet' to an anchor at Salamis. March of Xerxes through 
Phocis and Boeotia into Attica. Failure of attempt on Delphi. Burning 
of Athens. General alarm of the Greeks, and inclination of the fleet to dis- 
perse. Politic measures of Themistocles prevent the dispersal, and bring on 
a general engagement of the two fleets in the strait between Attica and Sala- 
mis, in which the Greeks with 380 sail completely vanquish and disperse the 
Persian fleet of 1207 triremes. Terror of Xerxes — his retreat. Mardonins 
winters in Thessaly, and in the summer of B.C. 479 resumes the offensive with 
300,000 picked Asiatic troops, and 50,000 confederate Greeks. Negotiations 
follow between Persia and Argos. Persian ti'oops re-occupy Attica and enter 
the Megarid. Long inaction of Sparta. Death of Cleombrotus and acces- 
sion of Pausanias followed by a sudden change of policy. The full force of 
Sparta Is levied ; large contingents are demanded and obtained from the al- 
lies ; and the Greeks take the field with above 100,000 men. Mardonius 
retires into Boeotia. The Greeks cross Cithaeron and take up a position near 
Plattea. Manoeuvres of Mardonius. He at length attacks the Greeks as 
they are executing a difficult movement, so that they have to engage with 
two-fifths of their army absent. Battle of Platasa. Complete rout of the 
Persians — only Artabazus, with a body of 40,000, retreats in good order. 
Double disaster at Mycale a fit termination of the first act of the great his- 
toric drama. 

7. The discomfitnre of the assailing force which had threat- 
ened the liberties of Greece, while it was far from bringing 
The Greeks the war to an end, entirely changed its character. 
fe™l, B^^" Greece now took the offensive. Not content with 
4T9. driving her foe beyond her borders, she aimed at 

pressing Persia back from the advanced position which she 
had occupied in this quarter, regarding it as menacing to her 
own security. At the same time, she punished severely the 
Grecian states which had invited or encouraged the invader. 
Moreover, she vindicated to herself, as the natural conse- 
quence of the victories of Salamis and Mycale, the complete 
command of the Levant, or Eastern Mediterranean, and the 
sovereignty over all the littoral islands, including Cyprus. 

Operations after Mycale. Siege and capture of Sestos, e.g. 479. 
Expedition of Pausanias to Cyprus, and liberation of the island from the 
Persian yoke, e.g. 478. Siege of Byzantium, also conducted by Pausanias. 



198 GRECIAN STATES. [kook hi. 

Byzantium taken. Siege and capture of Eion, b.c. 477. Attempts on Do- 
riscus. 

8. The new position into which Greece had been brought 
by the course of events, a position requiring activity, enter- 
Spartaabdi- prisc, the Constant employment of considerable 
e?shipfn.c!^^" f^rccs at a distance from home, and the occupa- 
4^^- tion of the -^gean with a powerful navy, led 
naturally to the great change which now took 2:»lace in Gre- 
cian arrangements — the withdrawal of Sparta from the con- 
duct of the Persian War, and the .substitution of Athens as 
leader. No doubt Sparta did not see at once all which this 
change involved. The misconduct of Pausanias, who enter- 
ed into treasonable negotiations with Xerxes, and the want 
of elasticity in her system, which unfitted her for distant 
foreign wars, made Sparta glad to retire from an unpleasant 
duty, the burden of which she threw upon Athens, without 
suspecting the- profit and advantage which that ambitious 
state would derive from undertaking it. She did not swp- 
pose that she was thereby yielding up her claim to the head- 
ship of all Greece at home, or erecting Athens into a rival. 
She imagined that she could shift on to a subordinate re- 
sponsibilities which were too much for her, without chang- 
ing the attitude of that subordinate towards herself. This 
was a fatal mistake, so far as her own interests were con- 
cerned, and had to be redeemed at a vast cost during a war 
which lasted, with short interruptions, for the space of more 
than fifty years. 

9. On Athens the change made by the transference of the 
leadership had an effect which, if not really advantageous 
Assumption ^^^ ^^^ respccts. Seemed at any rate for a time to 
of the com- })q extraordinarily beneficial. Her patriotic ex- 

mancl by Ath- . . -^ . ^ ^ 

ens. Com- ertious dunug the war or invasion appeared to 
the Athenian liavc rcccivcd thereby their due reward. She 
Empire. j^^^ obtained a free vent for her superabundant 

activity, energy, and enterprise. She was to be at the head 
of a league of the naval powers of Greece, offensive and de- 
fensive, against Persia. The original idea of the league was 
that of a free confederation. Delos was appointed as its 
centre. There the Congress was to sit, and there was to be 
the common treasury. But Athens soon converted her ac- 
knowledged headship (//yf/uor/a) into a sovereignty (apx*/). 



?. 



J^ per; III".] ATHENIAN EMPIRE. I99 

First, the right of states to secede from the confederacy, 
which was left undecided by the terms of the confederation, 
was denied ; and, upon its assertion, was decided, in the neg- 
ative by the unanswerable argument of force. Next, the 
treasury was transferred from Delos to Athens, and the 
meetings of the Congi-ess were discontinued. Finally, the 
separate treasury of the league was merged in that of Ath- 
ens ; the money and ships of the allies were employed for 
her own aggmndizement in whatever way Athens pleased ; 
and the various members of the league, excepting a few of 
the more powerful, were treated as Athenian subjects, com- 
pelled to model their governments in accordance with Athe- 
nian views, and even forced to allow all imjDortant causes to 
be transferred by appeal from their own local courts to 
those of the Imperial City. These changes, while they im« 
mensely increased the wealth and the apparent importance 
and power of Athens, did nevertheless, by arousing a deep 
and general feeling of discontent among her subject-allies, 
introduce an element of internal weakness into her system, 
^vhich, when the time of trial came, was. sure to show itself 
and to issue in disaster, if not in ruin. 

10. Internal changes of considerable importance accom- 
panied this exaltation of Athens to the headship of an Em- 
internai pirc. The powcr of the Clisthenie strategi in- 

AthSu''*^^ creased, while that of the old archons declined 
B^niSrieri- ^^^^^ ^^ became a mere shadow. The democracy 
odof Atheus. advanced. By a law of Aristides, b.c. 478, the 
last vestige of a property qualification was swept away, and 
every Athenian citizen was made eligible to every ofiice. 
The law-courts were remodelled and systematized by Peri- 
cles, who also introduced the plan of paying the poorer cit- 
izens for their attendance. The old council of the Areopa- 
gus was assailed, its political power destroyed, and its func- 
tions made simply judicial. At the same time, however, cer- 
tain conservative alteraticyns were introduced by way of bal- 
ance. The establishment of the Nomophylaces and the ]N'o- 
mothetae, together with the institution of the Indictment for 
Illegality (ypa^j) 7rapav6/jL<jjp), had a decided tendency to check 
the over-rapid progress of change. The practice of re-elect- 
ing year after year a favorite strategics gave to the republic 
something of the stability of monarch)^, and rendered flue- 



200 GRECIAN STATES. [book hi. 

tuations in i^olicy less frequent than they would otherwise 
have been, and less extreme. Meanwhile, the convenient in- 
stitution of ostracism diminished the violence of party strug- 
gles, and preserved the state from all attempts upon its lib- 
erties. The sixty years which followed Salamis form, on the 
whole, the most brilliant period of Athenian history, and ex- 
hibit to us the exceptional spectacle of a full-blown democra- 
cy, which has nevertheless all the steadiness, the firmness, 
and the prudent self-control of a limited monarchy or other 
mixed government. 

11. Athens also during this period became the most splen- 
did of Greek cities, and was the general resort of all who ex- 
ornameuta- Celled in literature or in the arts. The Parthenon, 
city.'' Athens the Theseium, the temple of Victory, the Propy- 
oHiterafifrT*^ Iffia wcrc built, and adorned with the paintings of 
aud the arts. Polygnotus and the exquisite sculptures of Phidi- 
as and his school. Oimon and Pericles vied with each other 
in the beautifying of the city of their birth; and the en- 
couragement which the latter especially gave to talent of 
every kind, collected to Athens a galaxy of intellectual 
lights such as is almost without parallel in the history of man- 
kind. At the same time, works of utility were not neglected, 
but advanced at an equal pace with those whose character 
was ornamental. The defenses of Athens were rebuilt im- 
mediately after the departure of the Persians, and not long 
afterwards the fortifications were extended to the sea on 
either side by the " Long Walls " to the two ports of Piraeus 
and Phalerum. The triple harbor of Piraeus was artificially 
enlarged and strengthened. New docks were made, and a 
town was laid out on a grand plan for the maritime popula- 
tion. A magnificent force of triremes was kept up, main- 
tained always at the highest point of efficiency. Colonies 
Avere moreover sent out to distant shores, and new towns 
arose, at Amphipolis, Thurii, and elsewhere, which rej^ro- 
duced in remote and barbarous •regions the splendor and 
taste of the mother city on a reduced scale. 

12. Although Aristides was the chief under whom Athens 
obtained her leadershij^, and Themistocles the statesman to 
Successes of whom she owed it that she was thought of for 
cimou, B.C. such a position, yet the guidance of the state on 

-her new career was intrusted to neither the one 



PEK. III.] POLICY OF PERICLES. 201 

nor the other, but to Cimon. Aristides appears to have been 
regarded as deficient in military talent; and the dishonest 
conduct of Themistocles had rendered him justly open to 
suspicion. It was thus to the son of the victor at Marathon 
that the further humiliation of Persia Avas now committed. 

Campaigns or Cimon : — Siege and capture of Eion, about b.c. 475. Oc- 
cupation of Scyros, b.c. 470. Expedition to Asia, and victories of Cimon at 
the Eurymedon, b.c. 466. War with Thasos, b.c. 465, and attempt to found 
Amphipolis. Thasos reduced, b.c. 463. Contingent sent to aid the Spar- 
tans against their revolted Helots. Contingent dismissed, b.c. 461. Anger 
of the Athenians on this account. 

13. The revolt of the Spartan Helots simultaneously with 
the siege of Thasos, b.c. 464, was an event the importance of 
Revolt of the which can scarcely be over-estimated. It led to 
464.^ cinion the first actual rupture of friendly relations be- 
AdveutofPer- twceu Athens and Sparta; and it occupied the 
icies to power, attention of Sparta so completely for ten years 
that she could do nothing during that time to check the 
rapid advance which Athens made, so soon as she found her- 
self free to take whatever part she pleased in Grecian poli- 
tics. It likewise caused the banishment of Cimon (b.c. 461), 
and the elevation of Pericles to the chief direction of afiairs 
— a change of no small moment, being the substitution of a 
consummate statesman as chief of the state for a mere mod* 
erately skillful general. 

14. The ambition of Pericles aimed at securing to Athens 
the first position in Greece both by land and sea. He un- 
Aims of Per- dcrstood that Sparta would not tolerate such pre- 
icies. tensions, and was prepared to contest with that 
power the supremacy on shore. But he believed that ulti- 
mately, in such a country as Greece, the command of the sea 
would carry with it a predominant power over the land also. 
He did not design to withdraw Athens from her position of 
leader against Persia ; but, treating the Persian War as a 
secondary and subordinate affair, he wished to direct the 
main energies of his country towards the acquisition of such 
authority and influence in central and northern Greece as 
would place her on a par with Sparta as a land power. At 
the same time, he sought to strengthen himself by alliances 
with such states of the Peloponnese as were jealous of Spar- 
ta ; and he was willing, when danger threatened, to relinquish 



202 GRECIAN STATES. [r.ooic iir, 

the contest with Persia altogether, and to devote all his ef- 
forts to the establishment of the supremacy of Athens over 
Greece. 

Military History op Athens under Pericles, from B.C. 461 to b.c. 
447. Alliance made with Argos and Thessaly, b.c. 461. The Megarid an- 
nexed, and its capital connected by "Long Walls" with the sea. First 
Peloponnesian War, under the leadership of Corinth, b.c. 460 to 457. 
Double defeat of the Corinthians on the land, and victory gained by Athens 
over the ^ginetans and their aUies by sea. Siege of ^gina. Eleet of 200 
vessels, dispatched to Cyprus against the Persians, proceeds to Egypt to as- 
sist Inarus. The Athenian "Long Walls" are begun. Effort made ly 
Sparta to check her rival brings on the battle of Tanagra, B.C. 457, a Spartan 
victory, but one which left the field completely open to Athens. The victory 
of Myronidas at O^nophyta, sixty-two days after Tanagra (b.c. 456), lays 
Ba>otia prostrate at her feet. Phocis and Opuntian Locris submit to her. 
JEgina surrenders, and joins the Athenian confederacy. Recall of Cimon, 
and completion of the "Long Walls." Triumphant cruise of Tolmidas round 
the Peloponnese, b.c. 455. Athenian expedition into Thessaly in the same 
year fails. Disasters overtake the ships sent to Egypt. Pericles in person 
makes an unsuccessful attempt on OEniadai, B.C. 454. Warned by these con- 
tinued disasters, and distrustful of the condition of Bceotia, Pericles, three 
years later, concludes a peace with Sparta for five years, b.c. 451. This en- 
ables him once more to dispatch a force against Persia, Avhich is placed under 
the command of Cimon, who dies at the siege of Citium. The fleet, however, 
shortly afterwards gains a great victory off Salamis. Hereupon peace is 
made. Athens relinquishes to Persia Cyprus and Egypt, Avhile Persia per- 
mits the independence of the Greek cities in Asia Minor, B.C. 450. A short 
])ause occurs, and then the fabric of Athenian land empire is shattered by the 
rebellion of Bceotia and the defeat of Coroneia, b.c. 447, which involve the 
fiuther immediate loss of Phocis and Locris, while they threaten still worse 
consequences. 

15. The culminating period of Athenian greatness was the 
interval between (Enophyta and Coroneia, b.c. 456 to 447. 
Athens reach- Periclcs, who at the outset appeared likely to suc- 
of her power, ^Gcd in all that he had planned, learned gradually 
deciiitfB.o.*'' ^y the course of events that he had overrated his 
^*^- country's powers, and wisely acquiesced in the in- 

evitable. From about B.C. 454 his aim was to consolidate 
and conserve, not to enlarge, the dominion of Athens. But 
the policy of moderation came too late. Bceotia, Phocis, and 
Locris burned to be free, and determined to try the chance 
of arms, so soon as a convenient occasion offered. Coroneia 
came, and Athens was struck down upon her knees. Two 
years later, on the expiration of the five years' peace (b.c. 
445), Sparta arranged a combination which threatened her 



.^ 



-OjJJkS 



TEK. HI.] PELOPONNESIAN WAR. 203 

rival with actual destruction. Megara on the one side and 
Euboea on the other were stirred to revolt, while a Pelo- 
ponnesian force under Pleistoanax and Cleandridas invaded 
Attica at Eleusis. But the crisis was met by Pericles with 
firmness and wisdom. The Spartan leaders were accessi- 
ble to bribes, and the expenditure 'of a few talents relieved 
Athens from her greatest danger. Euboea, the possession of 
which was of vital consequence to the unproductive Attica, 
received a severe punishment for her disaffection at the hands 
of Pericles himself Megara, and a few outlying remnants 
of the land empire enjoyed from B.C. 456 to 447, were made 
the price of peace. By the cession of what it would have 
been impossible to retain, Athens purchased for herself a long- 
term of rest, during which she might hope to recruit her 
strength and prepare herself to make another struggle for 
the suj)remacy. 

Thirty years' peace concluded, B.C. 445. Authority of Pericles at its 
height. Ostracism of Thucydides, son of Melesias, b.c. 443. Great works 
of Pericles executed. Power of Athens nursed by extension ofcleruch system 
(e. g., Hestisa and Sinope), and by the judicious planting of colonies (e. g., 
Thurii, b.c. 443, and Amphipolis, b.c. 437). Good economy of Pericles, 
and flourishing condition of the treasury. The only interruption of peace 
during the thirteen years from b.c. 445 to 432 is caused by the defection of 
Samos, B.C. 440, which the Athenians pi-ovoke by interference in the local 
politics. Revolt put down, after a nine months' siege, by Pericles. 

Commencement of differences between Corinth and Corcyra on account of 
Epidamnus, b.c. 436. Naval victory of the Corcyra^ans, b.c. 435. Great 
preparations of Corinth, and application of Corcyra to Athens, b.c. 433. 
Corcyra taken into alliance and eifectually protected, b.c. 432. • 

In revenge, Corinth induces Potidoea to revolt from Athens, b.c. 432. 
Other Chalcidian cities join. Corinth assists the revolters. Perdiccas faith- 
ful to neither side. Athenians lay siege to Potidfea. Corinth ajjpeals to 
Sparta, and, after fniitless negotiations, war is declared, b.c. 431. 

16. The struggle which nov\^ commenced is known by the 
name ot' the " Peloponnesian War." It lasted twenty-seven 
ThePeiopon- Y^ars, from B.C. 431 to 404, and extended itself 
iiesian War. over almost the whole of the Grecian world, in- 

B.C. 431-404. 1 • 1 « ^ ,. ' 

volvmg almost every state from Selmus at the 
extreme west of Sicily to Cnidus and Rhodes in the ^gean. 
Though in the main a war for supremacy between the two 
great powere of Greece, Athens and Sparta, it was also to 
a certain extent " a struggle of principles," and likewise, 
though to a lesser extent, "a war of races." Speaking gen- 



204 GRECIAN STATES. [book hi. 

erally, the Ionian Greeks were banded together on the one 
side, and made common cause with the Athenians; while 
the Dorian Greeks, Avith a few remarkable exceptions, gave 
their aid to the Spartans. But political sympathy deter- 
mined, to a greater degree than race, the side to which each 
state should attach itself.' Athens and Sparta were respect- 
ively in the eyes of the Greeks the representatives of the 
two principles of democracy and oligarchy; and it was felt 
that, according as the one or the other preponderated, the 
cause of oligarchical or democratical government was in the 
ascendant. The principle of non-intervention was unknown. 
Both powers alike were propagandist ; and revolutionized, 
as occasion offered, the constitutions of their dependencies. 
Even without intervention, party spirit was constantly at 
work, and the triumph of a faction over its rival in this or 
that petty state might at any time disturb the balance of 
power between the two chief belligerents. 

17. These two belligerents offered a remarkable contrast 
to each other in many respects. Athens was predominantly 
Coutrast pre- ^ maritime, Sparta a land power. Athens had in- 
tw"ochief bei- Auence chiefly on the eastern side of Greece and 
ligerents. i^ Asia ; Sparta, on the western side of Greece, 
and in Italy and Sicily. Again, the position of Sparta with 
respect to her allies was very different from that of Athens. 
Sparta was at the head of a purely voluntary confederacy, 
the members of which regarded their interests as bound up 
in hers, ai^d accepted her, on account of her superior military 
strength, as their natural leader. Athens was mistress of an 
empire Avhich she had acquired, to a considerable extent, by 
force ; and was disliked by most of her subject-allies, who 
accepted her leadership, not from choice, but from compul- 
sion. Thus Sparta was able to present herself before men's 
minds in the character of " liberator of Greece ;" Ihough, 
had she obtained a complete ascendency over the rest of 
Greece, her yoke would probably have been found at least 
as galling as the Athenian. 

Allies of Sparta. The allies on whom Sparta could count were the 
Corinthians, the Boeotians, the Megarians, the Phocians, the Locrians, the 
Ambraciots, the Leucadians, the Anactorians, the Arcadians, the Eleans, the 
Sicyonians, and the Achaeans of Pellene'. In ^tolia the semi-barbarous in- 
habitants were inclined to be favorable to them ; and in Italy and Sicily the 



PER. III.] PELOPONNESIAN WAR. 205 

Dorian cities were their well-wishers, and might be expected, under certain 
circumstances, to lend them aid. 

Subject- Allies of Athens. These were Euboea, Chios, Lesbos, Samos, 
the Cyclades and Sporades (except Melos and Thera, which were neutral), 
maritime Caria, all the Greek cities in Asia Minor and on the coast of 
Thrace, Plataa, Naupactus, Zacjnthus, and Corcyra. The Thessalians and 
Acarnanians were friendly to them, and so were the Ionian cities in Sicily 
and Italy. Besides her allies, Athens held at this time, as parts of her own 
territory, Hestiasa, ^gina, Scyros, Lemnos, Imbrus, and the Chersonese. 

18. Among the princij)al advantages which Athens pos- 
sessed over Sparta at the commencement of the war was 
Finances of the better arrangement of her finance. Sparta 
Athens. ^^^j^ scarcely be said to have had a revenue at all. 

Her military expenses were met by extraordinary contribu- 
tions, which she and her allies levied upon themselves, as 
occasion seemed to require. Athens, on the contrary, had 
an organized system, which secured her an annual revenue 
greatly exceeding her needs in time of peace, and sufficient 
to support the whole expense of a moderate war. When 
extraordinary efforts were required, she could fall back on 
her accumulations, which were large ; or she could augment 
her income by requiring from her citizens an increased rate 
of property-tax. 

Finances of Athens*, (i.) Sources of her Revenue. 1. The tribute paid 
by the subject-allies, which was originally fixed, by the rating of Aristides, 
at 460 talents (about £110,000) annually, but had been raised, by the substi- 
tution of money for ships, from that sum to 600 talents (£145,00*0). 2. The 
jiETOLKLOv, or direct tax paid by foreign residents. 3. The income derived 
from t^;e public property of the state, especially from the mines, which about 
this time were veiy productive. 4. The customs — a 2 per cent, ad valorem 
duty on all exports and imports. 5. Harbor-dues — 1 per cent, on the value 
of all cargoes brought into Athenian ports. 6. A duty on slaves, paid by 
their masters. 7. A tax on emancipated slaves, paid by themselves. 8. 
The eloipopd or property-tax — a resource on Avhich the state could fall back, 
but Avhich was not used in ordinary years. The entire revenue from all these 
sources put together has been estimated at 1000, and again at 2000 talents, 
i. e., at a quarter or half a miUion of our money. To complete the notion of 
the means of the state, we must add to these various sources of revenue the 
liturgies, which threw on individuals the duty of providing for various ex- 
penses that must otherwise have been defrayed by the state, (ii.) Heads of 
Expenditure. 1. The support of the navy, including building of ships and 
pay of men, was probably the largest head. 2. Next to this might come the 
expenditure on shows and sights (jb decjpiKov). 3. The pay of soldiers in 
actual service would be a third head. 4. The dicasts', and at a later date 
the ecclesiasts' fees, would also be an important item. 5. In most years some 



20^ GRECIAN STATES. [book in. 

money worJd be spent on public buildings, 6. Votes were likewise often 
passed for the reward of individuals, which must in some years have amount- 
ed to a large sum. 7. Finally, there was a kind of "secret-service money," 
which, though not large, was remarkable. 

Athens began the war with an accumulation of coin to the amount of 6000 
talents (nearly ,£1,500,000) in her treasury. She had likewise in her temples 
'deposits and offerings of great value. The single statue of Athene, in the 
Tarthenon, is said to have had gold ornaments worth more than £125,000. 

19. The Peloponnesian War may be divided into three 
periods : — 1st. From the commencement until the conclusion 
Three i^eriods ^^ ^^^ Peace of Nicias — ten years — b.c. 431 to 
of the War. 421. 2d. From the Peace of Nicias to its formal 
rupture by Sparta— eight ;fears, b.c. 421 to 413. 3d. From 
the rupture of the Peace of Nicias to the capture of Athens 
— rather more than nine years — b.c. 413 to 404. 

20. ^irst Period. — The struggle was conducted for two 
years and a half by Pericles ; then by Nicias, but under the 
First Period c^^Gck of a Strong opposition led by Cleon. Ath- 
15. c. 431-421. ens ^yas continually more and more successful up 
to B.C. 424, when the fortune of war changed. The rash ex- 
pedition into BcEotia in that year lost Athens the flower of 
her troops at Delium ; while the genius of the young Spar- 
tan, Brasidas, first saved Megara, and then, transferring the 
war into Thrace, threatened to deprive the Athenians of the 
entire mass of their allies in this quarter. The effort made 
to recover Amphipolis (b.c. 422) having failed, and Athens 
fearing greatly the further spread of disaffection among her 
subject-cities, peace was made on terms disadvantageous 
but not dishonorable to Athens — the general principle *bf the 
peace being the statu quo ante hellimi, but certain exceptions 
being made with regard to Plataea and the Thracian towns, 
which placed Athens in a worse position than that which 
she held when the war began. 

Details of the War. b.c. 431. Attack on Platrea by Thebans. In^ 
vasion of Attica by Archidamus. Athenian fleet ravages the Peloponnesian 
coastj and brings over Cephallenia. First appearance of Brasidas, who saves 
Methone. Athenians in full force ravage the Megarid. Alliance made by 
Athens with Sitalces, king of Thrace. — B.C. 430. Second invasion of Attica 
by Archidamus. Appearance of the plague. Athenian fleet, under Pericles, 
ravages Epidaurus and Trcezen. Plague carried to Potidasa. Spartans at- 
tempt to make alliance with Persia. Potidasa recovered. — b.c. 429. Spar- 
tans, under Archidamus, blockade Platsea, and under Cnemus attempt to re- 
duce Acarnania. Failure of Cnemus, and naval victories of Phormio. Death 



PER. III.] PELOrONNESIAN WAR. • 20*7 

of Pericles. Expedition of Sitalces. — B.C. 428. Third invasion of Attica, 
under Archidamiis, Revolt of Mytilene'. Athenian fleet ravages the Pel- 
oponnese. — b.c. 427. Fourth invasion of Attica, under Cleomenes. Reduc- 
tion and punishment of Mytilene. Surrender of Platica. Attempt of Pel- 
oponnesians to recover Corcyra by aid of the oligarchical party leads to a 
bloody revolution in that island. First Athenian expedition to Sicily. — b.c. 
426. Earthquakes prevent the usual invasion of Attica. Failure of Nicias 
to take Melos. Unsuccessful expedition of Demosthenes into ^tolia. Foun- 
dation of Heracleia in Trachis by the Spartans. Defeat of Euiylochus at 
Olpae by Demosthenes. — b.c. 425. Fifth invasion of Attica, under Agis. 
Occupation of Pylos, and blockade of Sphacteria. Attempt of Sparta to 
make peace frustrated by Cleon. Sphacteria captured by Cleon and Demos- 
thenes. The Messenians settled at Pylos. Nicias, in command of the fleet, 
first attacks Corinth, but is beaten off, and tlien occupies Methana, in Epi- 
dauria. Fresh troubles in Corcyra. Anactorium taken. Chios suspected. 
— B.C. 424. Attica not invaded. Athenians under Nicias occupy Cythern, 
and take and burn Thyrea. Attempt to recover Megara fails, but results in 
capture of Nissea. Disasters begin. The Greek cities in Sicily come to 
terms, and require the Athenians to quit the island. An invasion of Boeotia 
from two quarters completely fails, and the Athenians are signally defeated 
at Delium. Brasidas marches through Thessaly into Chalcidice, and is le- 
ceived as a liberator by Acanthus, Argilus, Amphipolis, and other cities.— >.- 
B.C. 423. A truce made for a year. Brasidas continues to receive into alli- 
ance such of the Chalcidic cities as revolt to him. His expedition, in con- 
junction with Perdiccas, against the lUyrians. Nicias recovers Mende', be- 
sieges Scione, and makes alliance with Perdiccas. — B.C. 422. Cleon, ap- 
pointed to the command in Thrace, takes Torone and Galepsus, and tries to 
recover Amphipolis, but is completely defeated by Brasidas, who, however, 
as well as Cleon, is slain in the battle. Hereupon peace is made, chiefly Uy 
the efforts of Nicias. 

21. Second Period. — The continuance of hostilities dur- 
ing this period, while there was peace, and even for some 
„ ,^ . time alliance, between the two chief belligerents, 

Second Pen- ' t i ? i i-i 

od, B.C. 421- was attributable, at first, to the hatred Avhich Cor- 
AidbiadS to inth bore to Athens, and to the energy which she 
power. showed in forming coalitions against her detested 

rival. Afterwards it was owing also in part to the ambition 
and influence of Alcibiades, who desired a renewal of the 
war, hoping thereby to obtain a sphere suitable to his tal- 
ents. Argos, during this period, rose for a time into consid- 
eration, her alliance being sought on all hands; but the bat- 
tle of Mantinea, by destroying the flower of her troops, once 
more broke her power, and her final gravitation to the Athe- 
nian side was of no consequence. 

Details of the msToliT. b.c. 421. Alliance, offensive and defensive, 



208 • GRECIAN STATES. [book in. 

between Athens and Sparta. Defensive alliance between Argos, Corinth, 
Mantinea, Elis, and Chalcidice. Alliance, offensive and defensive, between 
Sparta and Boeotia, — B. c. 420. Athens, offended hereat, makes alliance 
Avith Argos. Mantinea and Elis join this league, Sparta is rejoined by most 
of her old allies. — B.C. 419. Expedition of Alcibiades into the Peloponnese. 
War between Argos and Epidaurus. — B.C. 418. Sparta takes the field 
against Argos. Battle of Mantinea. Argos submits and joins the Pelopon- 
nesian league, but repents the next year, B.C. 417, and makes aUiance with 
Athens. — b.c. 416. Athenian expedition against Melos. 

22. Far more important than his Peloponnesiau schemes 
was the project, which Alcibiades now brought forward, of 
Project of con- Conquering Sicily. The success of this attempt 
queiing Sicily, ^yould liavc Completely destroyed the balance of 
power in Greece, and have made Athens irresistible. The 
project, though perhaps somewhat over-bold, would probably 
have succeeded, had the task of carrying it through to the 
end been intrusted to the genius which. conceived it. Un- 
fortunately for Athens, she was forced to choose between en- 
dangering her liberties by maintaining Alcibiades in power 
and risking the failure of an expedition to which she was too 
far committed for her to be able to recede. The recall of 
Alcibiades was injurious to Athens in various ways. It de- 
prived her of her best general, and of the only statesman she 
possessed who was competent to deal with all the peculiar 
difficulties of the expedition. It made Sparta fully acquaint- 
dtl with the Athenian schemes for the management of Sicil- 
ian affairs, and so enabled her to counteract them. Finally, 
it transferred to the enemy the most keen and subtle intel- 
lect of the time, an intellect almost certain to secure success 
to the side which it espoused. Still, if the choice lay (as 
probably it did) between accepting Alcibiades as tyrant and 
driving him into exile, we must hold Athens justified in the 
course which she took. There might easily be a rapid re- 
covery from the effects of a disastrous expedition. Who 
could predict the time at which the state would recover from 
the loss of those liberties on which her prosperity had recent- 
ly depended ? 

Sicilian Expedition, b.c 415. First fleet and array sent out under 
the command of Nicias, Lamachus, and Alcibiades. Armament numbers 
134 triremes, 5100 hoplites, and 1300 light-anned. Obtains possession of 
Naxos and Catana. Recall of Alcibiades, who escapes to Sparta. Desultory 
operations of Nicias. — b.c. 414. Siege of Syracuse c|pmences. Death of 
Lamachus. Arrival of Gylippus. * 



J: 

PER. III.] PELOPONNESIi«^ WAR. 209 

2-3. Third Period. — The maintenance of the "Peace of 
Nicias " had long been rather nominal than real. Athens 
Third Period, and Sparta had indeed abstained hitherto from 
DestrStionof direct attacks upon each other's territories; but 
pedftioll^°o^" they had been continually employed in plots 
413. against each other's interests, and they had met 

in conflict both in the Peloponnese and in Sicily. Now at 
length, after eight years, the worn-out fiction of a pretended 
amity was discarded ; and the Spartans, by the advice of Al- 
cibiades, not only once more invaded Attica, but made a per- 
manent settlement at Deceleia within sight of Athens. The 
main theatre of the struggle continued, however, to be Sici- 
ly ; where the Athenians clung with desperation to a scheme 
which prudence required them to relinquish, and lavishly 
sent fleet after fleet and army after army to maintain a con- 
flict which was hopeless. Still the expedition might have 
re-embarked, without sufiering any irreparable disaster, had 
it not been for an improvement in ship-building, devised by 
tl;e Corinthians and eagerly adopted by the Syracusans, 
which deprived Athens of her command of the sea, and forced 
her armies to surrender at discretion. Thus the fatal blow, 
from which Athens never recovered, was struck by the hatred 
of Corinth, which, in the course of a few wrecks, more than 
avenged the injuries of half a century. 

Conclusion or the War in Sicily. Athens sends out a fresh arma 
ment under Demosthenes and Eurymedon. Night attack on the Syracusan 
works fails. Naval battles in the harbor of Syracuse result in defeat of 
Athens. Siege raised. Attempt of Nicias and Demosthenes to reach the 
south coast fails. Surrender of the two armies. Cruel treatment of the pn's- 
oners, b.c. 413. 

24. The immediate result of the disasters in Sicily was the 
transference of the war to Asia Minor. Her great losses in 
Transfer of ships and sailors had so crippled the naval power 
SfiaMinor, of Athens, that her command of the sea was gone ; 
11.C.412. ^jje more so, as her adversaries were strengthened 

by the accession to their fleet of a powerful Sicilian contin- 
gent. The knowledge of this entire change in the relative 
position of the two belligerents at sea, encouraged the sub- 
ject-allies generally to shake ofi" the Athenian yoke. Sparta 
saw the importance of encouraging this defection ; and cross- 
ing the -^gean Sea in force, made the theatre of war Asia 



210 GREGilAN STATES. [book hi. 

Minor, the islands, and the Hellespont. Here, for the first 
time, she was able to make the Persian alliance, which she 
had so long sought, of use to her. Persian gold enabled her 
to maintain a fleet equal or superior to that of Athens, and 
ultimately gave her the victory in the long doubtful contest. 

25. What most surprises us, in the third and last period 
of the war, is the vigor of the Athenian defense ; the elas- 
Wonderfui ticity of Spirit, the energy, and the fertility of re- 
vigor of Ath- source which seemed for a time to have complete- 
ly surmounted the Sicilian calamity, and made the 

final issue once more appear to be doubtful. This wonderful 
recovery of strength and power was, no doubt, in a great 
measure due to the genius of one man — Alcibiades. But 
something must be attributed to the temper and character 
of the people. Athens, like Rome, is the greatest and most 
admirable in misfortune ; it is then that her courage, her pa- 
tience, and her patriotism deserve and command our sympa- 
thies. 

Details of the Wak till the Disgrace; of Alcibiades. b.c. 412. 
Revolt of Chios, Miletus, and other Ionian cities. Arrangements between 
Sparta and Tissaphemes. Samos preserved to Athens by a bloody revolu- 
tion. Battle of Miletus. Naval victory of Astyochus. Cnidus and Rhodes 
revolt from Athens. — b.c. 411. War languishes. Finesse of Tissaphernes. 
Revolt of Abydos, Chalcedon, and Byzantium, Mindarus succeeds Astyo- 
chas, and transfers the war to the Hellespont, where he is supported by 
Pharaabazus. Recall of Alcibiades. Naval victoiy of Sestus gained by 
Thrasybulus. At home, the Athenians lose Euboea. — b.c. 410. Great vic- 
tory of Cyzicus gained by Alcibiades. Spartans make proposals of peace, 
which are rejected. — B.C. 409. Defeat of Thrasyllus, near Ephesus. Vic- 
tory of Abydos. At home, loss of Nisi«a and Pylos. — b.c. 408. Alcibiades 
recovers Chalcedon and Byzantium. Returns to Athens and is received with 
favor (B.C. 407) ; but, on the loss of the battle of Notium by his lieutenant 
in his absence, is disgraced, and goes into exile. 

26. The arrival of tlie younger Cyrus in Asia Minor was 
of great advantage to Sparta, and must be regarded as main- 
Ariivai of the ^J effective in bringing the war rapidly to a suc- 
youuger Cyrus cessful issuc. Hithei'to the satraps had pursued 

gives the liual , ,. ,.-.■,. r> 4-% ' • i 

victory to the policy which the mterests of Persia required, 
^^^ ^' had trimmed the balance, and contrived that 

neither side should obtain a decided preponderance over the 
other. But Cyrus had personal views, which such a course 
would not have subserved. He required the assistance of 
Greek troops and ships in the great enterprise that he was 



$07 

/■ 
PER. III.] PELOPONNESIAN WAR. 211 

meditating ; and, to obtain such aid, it was necessary for him 
to make a real friend of one belligerent or the other. He 
chose Sparta, as best suited to furnish him the aid he re- 
quired ; and, having made his choice, he threw himself into 
the cause with all the energy of his nature. It was his prompt 
and lavish generosity which j^revented the victory of Argi- 
nusse from being of any real service to Athens, and enabled 
Lysander to undo its effects and regain the mastery of the 
sea, within the space of thirteen months, by the crowning- 
victory of ^gos-potami. That victory may also have been 
in another way the result of Lysander's command of Per- 
sian gold ; for it is a reasonable suspicion that some of the 
Athenian commanders were bribed, and that the negligence 
which lost the battle had been paid for out of the stores of 
Cyrus. 

Closing Years of the War. Conon succeeds Alcibiades in the com- 
mand, b.c. 406. Naval victory of Callicratidas. Conon is shut up in Myti- 
lene'. Great efforts made to release him. Fresh armament sent out, and 
victory of the Athenians at Arginusaj. Condemnation of the generals for 
neglect of the men on board the disabled ships. Lysander sent as com- 
mander by Sparta, u.c. 405. At first, declines an engagement. Proceeds 
to the Hellespont, Takes Lampsacus. Destroys the Athenian fleet at ^gos- 
potami, except the squadron of Conon. Blockades Athens by sea, while 
Pausanias and Agis invest it by land. The city surrenders after a five 
months' siege — April, b.c. 404. The long walls and the defenses of the 
Peirseus are destroyed ; all ships of war except twelve are given up ; Athens 
places herself under the leadership of Sparta, and the city is handed over to 
an oligarchy of thirty men. 

27. The internal history of Athens during the third period 
of the Peloponnesian War is full of interest. The disastrous 
Internal his- termination of the Sicilian expedition threw dis- 
dunn^ih^B^^ credit upon democratical institutions; and im- 
period. mediately after the news of it reached Athens, 

the constitution wa« modified in an aristocratic direction, 
B.C. 412, The change, however, then made was not regarded 
as sufficient ; and in b.c. 411 a more complete revolution was 
effected. Cowed by a terrorism which the political clubs 
knew well how to exercise, the Athenian democracy sub- 
mitted to see itself abolished in a perfectly legal manner. 
A nominated Council of 400 succeeded to the elective /3ouX)) ; 
and a pretended committee of 5000 took the place of the 
time-honored i\xX>?o-m. This government, which was practi- 



212 GRECIAN STATES. [book hi. 

cally that of three or four individuals, lasted for aboiit four 
months, when it was overthrown by violence, and the de- 
mocracy was restored again under certain restrictions. 

28. The triumph of Sparta was the triumph throughout 
Greece of oligarchical principles. At Athens the democracy 

. „ was abolished, and the entire control of the srov- 

Triumph of ' />■!-» T/»m 

Sparta. Op- ernmcnt placed in the hands of a Board of Thirty, 

pressiveness , t ^ ' i ^ •t-t- t • 

of her leader- a Doard which has acquired in history the omi- 
'^"P- nous name of "the Thirty Tyrants." Boards of 

Ten (cei^apxiai), cliosen by himself, were set up by Lysander 
as the supreme authority in Samos and in other cities, while 
Spartan " harmosts," with indefinite powers, were established 
everywhere. The Greeks found that, instead of gaining by 
the change of masters, they had lost ; they had exchanged 
the yoke of a power, which, if rapacious, was at any rate re- 
fined, civilized, and polished, for that of one which added to 
rapacity a coarse arrogance and a cruel harshness which 
Avere infinitely exasperating and ofi*ensive. Even in the mat- 
ter of the tribute there was no relaxation. Sparta found 
that, to maintain an empire, she must have a revenue ; and 
the contributions of her subject-allies were assessed at the 
annual rate of 1000 talents (£243,000). 

Time or the Thirty Tyrants at Athens. Reign of Terror. Internal 
quarrels, and execution of Theramenes. Thrasybulus and the exiles seize 
Phyle ; advance and occupy the Peirajus. Defeat and death of Critias. 
Interference of Lysander and Pausanias. Accommodation made Avith Spar- 
ta — deposition of the oligarchy, and retimi of the exiles. Restoration of tlie 
democracy as it stood before the capture of Athens, b.c, 403. 

The condition of Athens under the Thirty may be regarded as a sample of 
what happened generally' in the Greek cities which the fortune of Avar had 
placed at the mercy of Sparta. 

29. The expedition of the Ten Thousand, b.c. 401 to 400, 
belongs less to the history of Greece than to that of Persia 
Expedition of (^^^ p. 120); but it had some important conse- 
sancT^'Mfects ^l^^^^^ces ou the after course of Greek policy, 
on Greek and The weakness of Persia was laid bare; it was 

ersiaupo icy. ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ Capital might be reached, and that 
Greek troops might march in security from end to end of 
the Empire. Hitherto even the attacks of the Greeks on 
Persian territory had been in a measure defensive, having 
for their object the security of European Hellas, or the liber- 
ation of the Greek cities iiv Asia. Henceforth ideas of actu- 



PER. III.] MARCH OF THE TEN THOUSAND. 213 

al conquest floated before the Grecian mind ; and the more 
restless spirits looked to this quarter as the best field for 
tlieir ambition. On the side of the Persians, alarm at the 
possible results of Greek audacity began to be felt, and a 
new policy was developed in consequence. The Court of 
Susa henceforth took an active part in the Greek struggles, 
allying itself continually with one side or the other, and em- 
ploying the treasures of the state in defraying the cost of 
Greek armaments, or in corrupting Greek statesmen. Final- 
ly, Persia came to be viewed as the ultimate arbiter of the 
Greek quarrels ; and rescripts of the Great King at once im- 
posed peace on the belligerents, and defined the terms on 
which it should be concluded. 

30. The immediate consequence of the Cyreian expedition 
was war between Persia and Sparta. Sparta was known to 
War of the havc lent her aid to Cyrus; and Tissaphernes 
Persia,B!oS ^^^^ Orders, on his return to the coast, to retaliate 
-^^^ by severities on the Greek cities, which were 
now under the protection of the Spartans. The challenge 
thus thrown down was readily accepted ; and for six years 
— B.C. 399 to 394 — Sparta carried on war in Asia Minor, first 
under generals of no great talent, but, finally, under Agesila- 
ns, who succeeded in making the Great King tremble for his 
empire. The consequences would probably have been seri- 
ous, if Persia had not succeeded in eflecting a combination 
against the Spartans in Greece itself, which forced them to 
recall Agesilailsfrom Asia. 

Attack of Tissaphernes on the Greek cities, B.C. 400. Command of Tiiim- 
bron, and reinforcement of his aimy by the returned Ten Thousand, b.c. 399. 
Tliimbron superseded by Dercyllidas — his successful campaigns, Agesilaiis 
crosses into Asia, B.C. 396, and takes the command. Victory of the Pacto- 
lus, B.C. 395. Agesilaus invades Phrygia and Paphlagonia. His recall, 
B.C. 394. 

31. Instigated by the Persians, and jealous of the power 
of Sparta, Argos, Thebes, Oorinth, and Athens formed an al- 
^ . ,, . liance acjainst her in the year b.c. 395. A war of 

Cormtbiau => r> -, c^ i i. 

War,B.c.394, a checkered character followed. Sparta lost the 
the""peace of Command of the sea by the great victory of Co- 
Antaicidas." ^^^ ^^ Cnidus, but maintained her superiority on 
land in the battles of Corinth, Corontea, and Lechaeum. Still 
she found the strain upon her resources so great, and the dif- 



214 GRECIAN STATES. [book hi. 

ficulty of resisting the confederation, supported as it was by 
the gold and the ships of Persia, so extreme, that after a fe\j- 
years she felt it necessary to procure peace at any cost. It 
was at her instance, and by her energetic exertions, that 
Persia was induced to come forward in the new character of 
arbitress, and to require the acceptance by the Greeks gen- 
erally of the terms contained in the " Peace of Antalcidas " 
(see p. 120) — terms disgraceful to the Greeks, but advan- 
tageous to Sparta, as the clause establishing the independ- 
ence of all the Greek states (TroXeig) injured Corinth and" 
Thebes, while it left her own power untouched. 

The Spartans invade Boeotia, and are defeated at Haliartus, B.C. 395. 
Lysander foils, Agesilaiis is recalled from Asia. Victory of Conon at Cni- 
dus soon after his departure, B.C. 394. Eattle of Corinth and Corontea in 
the same year. Battle of Lechieam, b.c. 393. Conon and Pharnabazus 
\ hh a Persian fleet ravage the Peloponnese and take Cythera. Long Walls 
( f Athens restored. Revolutions at Corinth, B.C. 392, followed by a union 
A\ ith Argos. Successes of Iphicrates. Expeditions of Agesilaiis into Acar- 
nania, B.C. 391, and of Agesipolis into Argolis, b.c. 390. Athenians assist 
the Cypriot rebel, Evagoras. Death of Thrasybulus. Teleutias plunders 
Pirajus, b.c. 388. Acceptance of the "Peace of Antalcidas, " b.c. 387. 

32. The immediate consequences of the "Peace of Antal- 
cidas " were the separation of Corinth from Argos, and the 
Effect of this deposition of Thebes from her hegemony over the 
"Peace." BoBOtian cities. The re-establishment of Platsea 
followed, a judicious measure on the part of Sparta, tend- 
ing to produce estrangement between Thebes and Athens. 
Sparta was now at the zenith of her power. Claiming the 
right of seeing to the execution of the treaty which she had 
negotiated, she extended her influence on all sides, nowhere 
meeting with resistance. But the intoxication of success 
had its usual efiect in developing selfishness and arrogance 
— fatal defects in a ruling state, always stirring np senti- 
ments of hostility, which sooner or later produce the down- 
Pnnishmeut fall of the powcr that provokes them. The domi- 
and Phiius'by peering insolence whictl dictated to Mantineia and 
Sparta. Phlius, might indeed, if confined to those cities, or 

others like them, have had no ill results j but when, in time 
of peace, the citadel of Thebes w^as occupied, and the act, if 
Seizure of the ^^^ commanded, was at least approved and adopt- 
guimeia, 1..C. ed by Sparta, the bitter enmity of one of the 
most powerful states of Greece was aroused, and 



PER. III.] CORINTHIAN WAR. 215 

every other state was made to feel that, in its turn, it might 
by some similar deed be deprived of independence. But 
the aggressor was for the time triumphant ; and having no 
open enemy now within the limits of Greece Proper, sought 
one on the borders of Thrace and Macedon, where, under the 
headship of Olynthus, a powerful confederacy w^as growing 
up, consisting in part of Greek, in part of Macedonian, cities. 
War with ^ ^^'^^' of four years, B.C. 382 to 379, sufficed to 
Olynthus, 1J.C. crusli this rising power, and thus to remove from 
Northern Greece the only rival Avhich Macedon 
had seriously to fear — the only state which, by its situation, 
its material resources, and its numerical strength, might have 
offered a considerable obstacle to the advance of the Mace- 
donian kings to empire. 

33. Thus far success had attended every enterprise of 
Sparta, however cruel or wicked ; but at length the day of 
Thebes recov- I'^tribution Came. Pelopidas and his friends ef- 
ers her iude- fectcd a bloody revolution at Thebes, recovered 
Warofs arta *^^ Cadmeia, expelling the Spartan garrison, and 
asaiust set about the restoration of the old Boeotian 

Athens,B.c. Icaguc. Athcus, injured and jnsulted, declared 
379-3T3. ^^^. ^gj^jjjg^ jjgi- (j1^ rival, made alliance with 

Thebes, revived her old confederacy on fair and equitable 
terms, and recovered the empire of the seas by the victories 
Peace made of Naxos and Leucas. All the efforts* of Sparta 
with Athens, against her two antagonists failed, and after seven 
years of unsuccessful war she was reduced to make a second 
appeal to Persia, who once more dictated the terms on which 
peace was to be made. Athens, now grown jealous of Thebes, 
was content to sign, and her confederates followed her lead ; 
but Thebes by the mouth of Epaminondas declined, unless 
she were recognized as head of Boeotia. As Sparta positive- 
ly refused to admit this claim, Thebes was publicly and for- 
mally excluded from the Treaty of Peace. 

Pelopidas and his brother exiles enter Thebes, murder the polemarchs, and 
induce the Spartan garrison to capitulate, B.C. 379. Expedition of Cleom- 
brotus into Boeotia, and attempt of Sphodrias on the Pirseus, B.C. 378. Ac- 
quittal of Sphodrias at Sparta causes Athens to declare war. Eevival of the 
Athenian confederacy, but as a voluntary union, and with no fixed rate of 
tribute. New arrangement of the Athenian property-tax. Two expeditions 
of Agesilaus against Thebes, b.c. 378 and 377. Attempt of Cleombrotus, 
B.C. 376. Sparta tries to reassert her command of the sea, but is defeated by 



216 GRECIAN STATES. [book hi: 

Chabrias near Naxos, b.c 376, and by Timotheus off the peninsula of Leu- 
cas, B.C. 375. Victory of Pelopidas at Tegyra, b.c, 374, and recovery of all 
Bceotia by Thebes, except Orchomenus. Boeotian confederacy reorganized. 
Thebes attacks Fhocis. Attempt of Sparta to take Corcyra fails, B.C. 373. 
Third embassy of Antalcidas to the court of Susa, and conclusion of peace at 
Sparta between all the belligerents except Thebes, B.C. 372. 

Rise of Jason of Pherae to power about this time. Application of Poly- 
damas the Pharsalian to Sparta rejected, B.C. 374. Dionysius I. of Syracuse 
aids the Lacedasmonians, b.c. 373. 

34. Sparta now, having only Thebes to contend with, im- 
agined that her triumph was secure, and sent her troops into 
War of Spar- ^oBotia undet Cleombrotus, hoping to crush and 
Thele?^' destroy Thebes. But the magnificent victory of 
Battle of Epaminondas at Leuctra — the fruit at once of ex- 

Leuctra, B.C. , -,. • i mi i • i r* 

371, and its traorclmary strategic skill at the time, and oi an 
consequences, excellent training of his soldiers previously — 
dashed all these hopes to the ground. Sparta fell, suddenly 
and forever, from her high estate. Almost all Central Greece 
joined Thebes. Arcadia rose and began to organize itself 
as a federation. The Lacedaemonian harmosts were expelled 
from all the cities, and the philo-Laconian party was every- 
where put down. Epaminondas, moreover, as soon as the 
murder of Jason of Pherse left him free to act, redoubled his 
blows. Entering the Peloponnese, he ravaged the whole 
Spartan territory at will, and even threatened the city ; which 
Agesilatis ^with some difiiculty preserved. But these tem- 
porary losses and disgraces were as nothing compared with 
the permanent injuries which the prudent policy of the The- 
ban leader inflicted on his foe, in the constitution of the Ar- 
cadian league and foundation of Megalopolis ; and, still more, 
in the re-establishment of an indejjendent Messenia and the 
building of Messene. Henceforth Sparta was a second-rate 
rather than a first-rate power. She ceased to exercise a he- 
gemony, and was territorially not much larger than Arcadia 
or Argos. 

Invasion of Cleombrotus and battle of Leuctra, b.c. 371. Appearance on 
the scene of Jason of Pherae, by whose advice the defeated army is allowed 
to retire. Great increase of Theban power alarms Athens. Assassination 
of Jason of Pherse (b.c. 370) relieves Thebes from all apprehension of dan- 
ger to her dominion at home. Invited by Arcadia, Epaminondas marches 
into the Peloponnese. Ravages Laconia and attacks Sparta itself. Founds 
Megalopolis as the centre of an Arcadian confederation. Builds Messene, 
and re-constitutes Messenia as a state. Winters in Arcadia, and threatens a 
second attack on Sparta. 



i>ER. 111. J HEGEMONY OF THEBES. 217 

35. Ill her distress, Sparta makes appeal to Athens for 
aid ; and an alliance is formed between these two powers on 
Alliance of temis of equality, which is joined after a time by 
Spart^Ia^ Achgea,Elis, and even by most of Arcadia, where 
369. a jealousy of Theban power and interference is 
gradually developed. Thebes, partly by mismanagement, 
partly by the mere circumstance of her being now the lead- 
ing state, arouses hostility, and loses ground in the Pelopon- 
nese, which she endeavors to recover by obtaining and ex- 
hibiting a Persian rescript, declaring her the head of Greece, 
and requiring the other states to submit to her under pain 
of the Great King's displeasure. But missives of this char- 
acter have now lost their force. The rescript is generally 
rejected ; and the power of Thebes in the Peloponnese con- 
tinues to decline. 

36. Meanwhile, however, she was extending her influence 
in Northern Greece, and even beyond its borders. Her ar- 
mies were sent into Thessaly, where they con- 

madfsubject tended with Alexander of Pherse, the brother of 
to Thebes. j^son, and, after some reverses, succeeded in re- 
ducing him to dependence. All Thessaly, together with 
Magnesia and Achsea Phthiotis, were thus brought under 
her sway. In Macedonia, she arbitrated between the dif- 
ferent claimants of the throne, and took hostages, among 
whom was the young jwince Philip. Her fleet about the 
same time proceeded to the coast of Asia. 

First expedition of Pelopidas against Alexander of Pherse, B.C. 369. Al- 
liance made with Alexander of Macedon. — Second expedition, B.C. 868. 
Pelopidas proceeds on into Macedonia, and receives hostages. — Third expe- 
dition, B.C. 366. Pelopidas seized by Alexander of Pheroe and cast into 
prison. First army sent to release him defeated. Second successful, under 
Epaminondas. — Fourth expedition, B.C. 363. Pelopidas slain. — Expedition 
of Malcitas and Diogeiton the same year. Alexander submits. Thessaly 
reduced. 

37. But the honor of Thebes required that her influence 
should be re-established in the Peloponnese, and her friends 
Thebes once there released from a situation which had become 
Se'pSm?.^ one of danger. Accordingly, in b.c. 362, Epami- 
nese,B.o.362. ^ondas once more took the field, and entering the 
Peloponnese, was within a little of surprising Sparta. Dis- 
appointed, however, of this prey by the activity of Agesi- 
latis, and of Mantineia by the sudden arrival of an Atheilian 

10 



218 GRECIAN STATES. [book hi. 

contingent, he brought matters to a decision by a pitched 
battle ; in which, repeating the tactics of Leuctra, he once 
more completely defeated the Spartans and their allies, dy- 
ing, however, in the arms of victory, b.c. 362. His death 
almost compensated Sparta for her defeat, since he left no 
worthy successor, and Thebes, which he and his friend Pe- 
lopidas had raised to greatness, sank back at once to a level 
with several other powers. 

38. The result of the struggle which Sparta had provoked 
by her seizure of the Theban citadel was the general ex- 
haustion of Greece. No state was left with any 

produced by decided predominance. The loss of all in men 
t esiugge. ^^^ money was great; and the battle of Manti- 
neia deprived Greece of her ablest general. If profit was 
derived by any state from the war, it was by Athens, who 
recovered her maritime superiority (since the attempt of 
Epaminondas to establish a rival navy proved a failure), re- 
constituted her old confederacy, and even, by the occupation 
of Samos and the Chersonese, began to restore her empire. 
In Macedonia her influence to some extent balanced that of 
Thebes. 

39. The general exhaustion naturally led to a peace, which 
was made on the princijDle of leaving things as they were. 
A general The independence of Messene and the unification 
Som^whidi' ^^ Arcadia were expressly recognized, while the 
excluded her- ^^G^tlship of Thebcs and Athens over their respect- 
seif. ive confederacies was tacitly sanctioned. Sparta 
alone declined to sign the terms, since she would on no ac- 
count forego her right to reconquer Messenia. She had no 
intention, however, of making any immediate appeal to arms, 
and allowed her king, Agesilaus, to quit Sparta and take 
service under the native monarch of Egypt. 

Death of Agesilaus on his march from Egypt to Cyrene', b.c. 361. His 
personal character stands, perhaps, as high as that of Epaminondas ; but in 
military genius he was decidedly inferior to his Theban adversary. 

40. The peace of b.c. 362 was not disturbed on the conti- 
nent of Greece till after the lapse of six years. Meanwhile, 
^.y. .„„ however, hostilities continued at sea between Al- 

Atnens sue- ' 

cessfui iu sev- exander of Pherae and Athens, and, in the con- 

Gn.1 T)GttV 

wars, Bc. 362- tincutal districts beyond the limits of Greece 
^^' Proper, between Athens on the one hand, and 



PER. III.] SOCIAL WAR. 219 

Amphipolis, Perdiccas of Macedon, and the Thracian princes, 
Cotys and his son Cersobleptes, on the other. Athens was 
intent on recovering her old dominion in these parts, while 
the Macedonian and Thracian kings were naturally jealous 
of her growing power. Nothing, however, as yet showed 
that any important consequences would arise out of these 
petty struggles. Macedonia was still one of the weakest of 
the states which bordered on Greece ; and even when, on 
the death of Perdiccas, b.c. 359, his brother, Philip, who had 
escaped from Thebes, mounted the throne, it was impossible 
for the most sagacious intellect to foresee danger to Greece 
from this quarter. 

41. The year b.c. 358 was the culminating-point of the 
second period of Athenian prosperity. Athens had once 
Social War, more made herself mistress of the Chersonese; 
B.0. 358-355. g]^g YiSid rccovcred Euboea, which had recently 
attached itself to Thebes ; and she had obtained from Philip 
the acknowledgment of her right to Amphipolis, when the 
revolt of a considerable number of her more distant allies en- 
gaged her in the " Social War," the results of Avhich injured 
her greatly. The war cost her the services of her three best 
generals, Chabrias, Timotheus, and Iphicrates ; exhausted her 
treasury, and permanently diminished her resources. It like- 
wise greatly tarnished her half-recovered reputation. 

Details of the War. Revolt begun— b.c. 358— by Rhodes, Cos, Chios, 
and Byzantium, which are afterwards joined by Sestus and other Hellespont- 
ine towns, and are assisted by Mausolus, king of Caria. Unsuccessful siege 
of Chios by Chares and Chabrias, in which Chabrias falls, b.c. 358. Siege 
of Byzantium, B.C. 357. Unsuccessful sea-fight. Chares accuses Timotheus 
and Iphicrates, the former of whom is condemned and goes into exile, while 
the latter is disgraced, being never afterwards employed in any service. — Cha- 
res, Charidemus, and Phocion in command, B.C. 356, assist the revolted sa- 
trap, Artabazus, in order to obtain money to pay their sailors. Victory gained 
over Tithraustes. The Persian court threatens vengeance, and Athens has- 
tily makes peace, b.c. 355, acknoAvledging the independence of the four rebel 
states. 

42. The period of the " Social War " was also disastrous 
for Athens in another respect. So completely did the strug- 
LossesofAth- S^^ with her allies occupy her attention, so inca- 
ens to Philip, pable was she at this period of carrying on more 
than one war at a time, that she allowed Philip to absorb, 
one after another, Amphipolis, Pydna, Potidaea, and MctliCue, 



220 GRECIAN STATES. [book hi. 

and thus to sweep her from the Thermaic Gulf, ahiiost with- 
out offering resistance. At first, indeed, she was cajoled by 
the crafty monarch ; but, even when the mask was thrown 
off, she made no adequate effort, but patiently allowed the 
establishment of Macedonian ascendency over the entire re- 
gion extending from the Peneus to the Nestus. 

43. Before the " Social War " had come to an end, another 
exhausting struggle — fatal to Greece in its consequences — 
Sacred War, was begun in the central region of Hellas, through 
B.0. 357-346.' ^i^g vindictiveness of Thebes. Down to the bat- 
tle of Leuctra, Phocis had fought on the Spartan side, and 
had thus provoked the enmity of Thebes, who now resolved 
on her destruction. The Amphictyonic assembly suffered 
itself to be made the tool of the oppressors ; and, by con- 
demning Phocis to a fine which she could not possibly pay, 
compelled her to fight for her existence. A war followed, in 
which Phocis, by the seizure and expenditure of the Delphic 
treasures, and the assistance, in some important conjunc- 
tures, of Achsea, Athens, and Sparta, maintained herself for 
eleven years against Thebes and her allies. At last, Thebes, 
blinded by her passionate hatred, called in Philip to her as- 
sistance, and thus purchased the destruction of her enemy at 
a cost which involved her own ruin and that of Greece gen- 
erally. 

Sentence of the Amphictyons against Phocis, B.C. 357. Philomelus is 
made general ; he seizes Delphi, and employs its treasures in raising merce- 
naries. After several victories, he is defeated and falls in battle, b.c. 354. 
Onomarchus, brother of Philomelus, takes the command. He conquers Lo- 
cris and Doris, invades Boeotia, and captures Orchomenus, b.c. 353. His 
aid is implored by Lycophron, tyrant of Pherae, who is attacked by Phihi*. 
He enters Thessaly and joins Lycophron, engages the array of Philip, biifc 
is defeated and slain, B.C. 352. Phayllus succeeds him. Philip threatens 
Thermopylas, which is saved by the promptitude of Athens. War continues 
with varied success, first under Phayllus, and after his death, b.c. 351, under 
Phalascus, son of Onomarchus ; but the Delphic treasures being exhausted, 
the power of Phocis wanes, and internal quarrels begin, B.C. 347. Thebes 
invokes the aid of Philip \ Athens is cajoled into standing neutral ; and Pha- 
laecus is forced to surrender at discretion, b.c. 346. Philip passes Thermop- 
ylae unopposed, crushes Phocis, and is rewarded by admission to the Am- 
phictyonic Council in lieu of that state. 

44. "The ruin of Greece was now rapidly consummated. 
Within six years of the submission and punishment of Phocis, 
Philip openly declared war against Athens, the only power 



PER. III.] SUPREMACY OF MACEDON. 221 

in Greece capable of offering him any important opposition. 
His efforts at first were directed towards obtaining the com- 
mand of the Bosphorus and Hellespont; but the second 
" Sacred War " gave him a pretext for marching his forces 
through Thermopylae into Central Greece; and though 
Thebes and Athens joined to oppose him, the signal victory 
of Chaeroneia (b.c. 338) laid Greece prostrate at his feet. All 
the states, excepting Sparta, at once acknowledged his su- 
premacy; and, to mark distinctly the extinction of inde- 
pendent Hellas, and its absorption into the Macedonian mon- 
archy, Philip was, in b.c. 337, formally appointed generalis- 
simo of united Greece against the Persians. His assassina- 
tion in the next year excited hopes, but produced no real 
change. The aspirations of the patriotic party in Greece 
after freedom were quenched in the blood which deluged re- 
volted Thebes, b.c. 335 ; and assembled Greece at Corinth 
once more admitted the headship of Macedon, and conferred 
on the youthful Alexander the dignity previously granted 
to his father. 



BOOK IV. 

mSTOKY OF THE MACEDONIAN MONARCHY. 

Geographical Outline, 

1. Macedonia Proper was the country lying immediate- 
ly to the north of Thessaly, between Mount Scardus on the 

edoni — ^"^ hand and the maritime plain of the Pierian s 
size and and Bottiseans (Thracians) on the other. It was 

bounded towards the north by Paeonia, or the 
country of the Pseonians, from which it was separated by an 
irregular line, running probably a little north of the 41st 
parallel. Its greatest length from north to south was about 
ninety miles, while its width from east to west may have 
averaged seventy miles. Its area was probably not much 
short of 6000 square miles, or about half that of Belgium. 

2. The character of the tract comprised within these lim- 
its was multiform, but for the most part fertile. High 
Character of mountain-chains, capped with snow during the 
the region. greater part of the year, and very varied in the 
directions that they take, divide the territory into a number 
of distinct basins. Some of these have a lake in the centre, 
into which all the superfluous moisture drains; others are 
watered by rivers, which, with one exception, flow eastward 
to the ^gean. In both cases the basins are of large extent, 
ofiering to the eye the appearance of a succession of plains. 
The more elevated regions are for the most part richly 
wooded, and abound with sparkling rivulets, deep gorges, 
and frequent waterfalls ; but in places this character gives 
way to one of dullness and monotony, the traveller passing 
for miles over a succession of bleak downs and bare hill sides, 
stony and shrubless. 

3. The principal Rivers of the region were the Lydias, or 
Ludias, now the Karasmak, and the Haliacmon, now the Vis- 
Rivers and tritza. Besides these, there was a third stream 
lakes. of some importance, the Erigon, a tributary of the 



BOOK IV., PER. I.] MACEDONIA. 223 

Axius. The chief Lakes were those of Castoria, on a tribu- 
tary of the Haliacraon, of Begorritis (Ostrovo?) in the coun- 
try of the Eordaeans, and the Lydias Palus, near Pella. 

4. Macedonia was divided into " Upper " and " Lower." 
Upper Macedonia comprised the whole of the broad mount- 
ainous tract which lay between Scardus and Ber- 
mius ; while Lower Macedonia was the compara- 
tively narrow strip along the eastern flank and at the foot 
of Bermius, between that range and the tracts known asPieria 
and Bottisea. Upper Macedonia was divided into a number 
of districts, which for the most part took their names from 
the tribes inhabiting them. The principal Avere, to the north, 
Pelagonia and Lyncestis, on the river Erigon ; to the west, 
Orestis and Elymeia, on the upper Haliacmon ; and in the 
centre, Eordaea, about Lake Begorritis. 

A good sketch of Macedonian geography is given in Mr. Grote's History 
of Greece^ part ii. chap. xxv. The modern travellers who have best described 
the region are 

Leake, Col., Northern Greece, vol. iii. (See p. 136.) 

Lear, E., Journals of a Landscape Painter. London, 1851 ; large 8vo. 

PoNQUEViLLE, Voyage de la Gr'ece. Paris, 1824 ; 4 vols. 8vo ; 2d edition. 

GmsTc^v A.CH, Reisendurch RumelienundAlbanien. Giittingen, 1843; 8vo. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH. 

EIRST PERIOD. 

F^m the Commencement of the Monarchy to the Death of Alexander the 
Great ^ about B.C. 700 to B.C. 323. 

Sources. For the first two centuries Macedonian history is almost a 
blank, nothing but a few names and some mythic tales being preserved to 
us in Herodotus. Tiiat writer is the best authority for the reigns of Amyn- 
tas I. and his son Alexander; but he must be supplemented from Thucydi- 
des (ii. 99) and Justin. Thucydides is the chief authority for the reign of 
Perdiccas. Eor the period from Archelaiis to Alexander we depend mainly 
on Justin and Diodorus. Philip's histoiy, however, may be copiously illus- 
trated from the Attic orators, especially ^schines and Demosthenes ; but 
these partisan writers must not be trusted implicitly. On the histoiy of 
Alexander the most trustworthy of the ancient authorities is Arrian '{Ex- 
peditio Alexandri), who followed contemporary writers, especially Aristobu- 
/ / lus and Ptolemy Lagi. Some interesting particulars are also furnished by 
i?*fl[\ Plutarch ( Vit. Alex.), Nearchus (Periplus), and Diodorus (book xvii.). The 



224 MACEDONIA. [book iv. 

biography of Q. Curtius is a rhetorical exercitation, on which it is impossible 
to place any dependence. (A good edition of the Periplus of Nearchus, 
the only writing of a companion of Alexander that has come down to us, is 
contained in C. Muller's Geographi Grceci Minores. Paris, 1855 ; 2 vols, 
tall 8vo.) 

Among modern works specially treating the histories of Philip and Alex- 
ander the Great, the best are — 

Olivier, Histoire de Philippe, roi de Macedoine. Paris, 1740 ; 2 vols. 
8vo. 

Leland, History of the Life and Reign of Philip, King of Macedon. 
London, 1761 ; 4to. 

Williams, The Life and Actions of Alexander the Great ; originally 
published in the Family Library. London, 1830 ; 8vo. 

Droysen, Geschichte Alexanders des Grossen. Hamburg, 1833 ; 8vo. 

1. According to the tradition generally accepted by the 
Greeks, the Macedonian kingdom, which under Philip and 
Macedonian Alexander attained to such extraordinary great- 
kingdom ness, was founded by Hellenic emigrants from 

founded about .' m, -»«-t. t i •. 

3!.o.7oo. Kings Argos. The Macedonians themselves were not 
myntas . jjgjjgj^gg . they belonged to the barbaric races, 
not greatly differing from the Greeks in ethnic type, but far 
behind them in civilization, which bordered Hellas upon the 
north. They were a distinct race, not Pseonian,not lilyrian, 
not Thracian ; but, of the three, their connection was closest 
with the Illyrians. The Argive colony, received hospitably, 
gradually acquired jDOwer in the region about Mount Bermi- 
us ; and Perdiccas, one of the original emigrants, was (ac- 
cording to Herodotus) acknowledged as king. (Other writ- 
ers mentioned three kings anterior to Perdiccas, whose joint 
i-eigns covered the space of about a century.) The period 
which follows is one of great obscurity, little being known 
of it but the names of the kings. 

Kings from Perdiccas I. to Amyntas I. : — 1. Perdiccas I. Reigned 
nearly fifty years, from about B.C. 700 to 650. Succeeded by 2-. Argseus, 
his son, who reigned about thirty years, B.C. 650 to 620. After him came 
his son, 3. Philip I., who also reigned about thirty years, B.C. 620 to 590. 
Philip was succeeded by his son, 4. Aeropus, whose reign lasted about 
twenty-five years, b.c. 590 to 565 ; and Aeropus by his son, 5. Alcetas, 
whose reign lasted twenty-eight or twenty-nine years, B.C. 565 to 537. Al- 
cetas was followed by his son, 6. Amyntas I., who was king at the tiirfe of 
the expedition conducted by Megabazus, b.c. 507. 

2. With Amyntas I., who was contemporary with Darius 
Hystaspis, light dawns upon Macedonian history. We find 
that by this time the Macedonian monarchs of this line 



PER. I.] EAKLY KINGDOM. 225 

Time of con- liad made themselves masters of Pieria and Bot- 
nlissiou of^' tisea, had crossed the Axius and conquered Myg- 
PeiSa^B^c ^^ ^^^oi^ia- and Anthemiis, had dislodged the original 
50T. Eordi from Eordia and themselves occupied it, and 

had dealt similarly with the Almopes in Almopia, on the 
Rhoedias. But the advance of the Persians into Europe 
gave a sudden check to this period of prosperity. After a 
submission which was more nominal than real, in b.c. 507, 
the Macedonians, in b.c. 492, became Persian subjects, retain- 
ing, however, their own kings, who accepted the position of 
tributaries. Amyntas I., who appears to have died about 
B.C. 498, was succeeded by his son, Alexander I., king at the 
time of the great invasion of Xerxes, who j^layed no unim- 
portant part in the expedition, b.c. 480 to 470. 

3. The repulse of the Persians set Macedonia free ; and the 
career of conquest ajDpears to have been at once resumed. 

Crestongea and Bisaltia were reduced, and the 

Career of con- . ^ . . .^ _' 

quest re- Macedonian dommion pushed eastward almost to 
the Strymon. The authority of the monarchs of 
Pella was likewise extended over most of the inland Mace- 
donian tribes, a^ the Lyncestse, the Eleimiots, and others, who 
however retained their own kings. 

Alexander, the son of Amyntas, is said to have reigned either forty-three 
or forty-four years, probably from about b.c. 498 to 454. Perdiceas, his son 
and successor, reigned j^robably forty-one years, from b.c. 454 to 413. 

4. But Macedonia was about this time herself exposed to 
attacks from two unquiet neighbors. The maritime confed- 
WarsofPer- cracy of Athens, whicli gave her a paramount au- 
Th?ace"ud^^ thority over the Greek cities in Chalcidice, and 
Athens. evcn ovcr Methone in Pieria, brought the Athe- 
nians into the near neighborhood of Macedon, and necessita- 
ted relations between the two powers, which were at first 
friendly, but which grew to be hostile when Athens by her 
colony at Amphipolis put a check to the further progress 
of Macedon in that direction ; and were still more embit- 
tered by the encouragement which Athens gave to Mace- 
donian chiefs who rebelled against their sovereign. About 
the same time, a powerful Thracian kingdom was formed 
under Sitalces, b.c. 440 to 420, which threatened destruction 
to the far smaller Macedonian state with which it was 
conterminous. Macedonia, however, under the adroit Per- 

10* 



22QL, ,. ' MACEDONIA. [book iv. 

diccas, escaped both dangers; and, on the whole, increased in 
prosperity. 

Commencement of differences with Athens, probably about b.c. 437, when 
Amphipolis was colonized. Support given to the brother of Perdiccas, Philip, 
and a chief named Derdas. Perdiccas retaliates by exciting the subject-allies 
of Athens to revolt, B.C. 432. Revolt of Potidaea, supported by Perdiccas, 
B.C. 432 to 430. Invasion of Sitalces, b.c. 429. Peace made by a marriage 
between Seuthes, nephew and heir of Sitalces, and Stratonice, sister of Per- 
diccas. Invitation given by Perdiccas to Brasidas, b.c. 424, gi-eatly damages 
Athens. War between Perdiccas and Athens continues, with intervals of 
peace, down to B.C. 416. 

5. The reign of Archelaiis, the bastard son of Perdiccas IT., 
though short, was very important for Macedon, since this 
^ .„. , . prince laid the foundation of her military sjreat- 

Bnlliant reign ^ ^ ^ • i ■, -t i 

of Archelaiis, ncss by the attention which he paid to the army, 
while at the same time he strengthened and im- 
proved the country by the construction of highways and of 
forts. He was also the first of the Macedonian princes who 
endeavored to encourage among his people a taste for Greek 
literature. Euripides the tragedian was welcomed to his 
court, as also was Plato the philosopher, and perhaps Hellan- 
icus the historian. He engaged in wars with some of the 
Macedonian princes, as particularly with Arrhibaeus ; but he 
was relieved from all hostile collision with Athens by the 
Sicilian disaster. The character of Archelatis was sanguin- 
ary and treacherous ; in his habits he was licentious. After 
reigning fourteen years, he was assassinated by the victims 
of his lust, B.C. 399. 

6. The murder of Archelaiis introduced a period of dis- 
turbance, both internal and external, which lasted till the ac- 
„ , , cession of Philip, b.c. 359. During this interval 

Forty years of , t^jt i - c 

disturbance, the Macedonian court was a constant scene oi 

li o 399-359 

plots and assassinations. The direct line of suc- 
cession having failed, numerous pretenders to the crown 
sprang up, who at different times found supporters in the 
Illyrians, the Lacedgemonians, the Thebans, and the Athe- 
nians. Civil wars were almost perpetual. Kings were driven 
from their thrones and recovered them. There were at least 
two regencies. So violent were the commotions that it 
seemed doubtful whether the kingdom could long continue 
to maintain its existence ; and, if the Olynthian league had 
been allowed to constitute itself Avithout interference, it is 



PER. I.] REIGN OF PHILIP. 227 

not unlikely that Macedon would have been absorbed, either 
by that confederacy or by the Illyrians. 

Kings and Regents from b.c. 399 to 359 : — 1. Orestes, son of Archelaiis, 
a minor. Reigns four years under the guardianship of Aeropus, B.C. 399 to 
395. 2. Aeropus, having murdered Orestes, reigns nearly two years as actual 
king, B.C. 395 to 394. He is succeeded by his son, 3. Pausanias, who reigns 
one year, when he is assassinated by Amyntas II., b.c. 393. 4. Amyntas II. 
has a reign which lasts, from its first year to its last, twenty-four years, b.c. 
393 to 369 ; but during a part of this time he is expelled from his kingdom. 

5. Argeus, the brother of Pausanias, reigns during the two years, b.c. 392 
and 391. Amyntas then recovers his kingdom, and retains it to his death, in 
B. c. 369 ; but during these years he is several times reduced to the last ex- 
tremity. At one time the Illyrians, at another the Olynthians, press him 
hard ; and it is only by the aid of Sparta that he is able to maintain himself. 

6. Alexander II,, the son of Amyntas, succeeded him, and reigned between 
one and two years, when he was murdered by Ptolemy of Alorus, who became 
regent for Perdiccas, the brother of Alexander II., b.c. 368, and was estab- 
lished in that position by Pelopidas. (See p. 217.) He held the supreme 
power for a little more than three years, and was then murdered in his turn 
by Perdiccas III., b.c. 364. 7. Perdiccas III. reigned five years, b.c. 364 
to 359. The Athenians assisted him against the claims of a pretender named 
Pausanias ; but shortly afterwards he fell in a war against the Illyrians, B.C. 
359, leaving behind him an infant son, Amyntas. He was succeeded, how- 
ever, on the throne by his brother, Philip II. 

7. The reign of Philip is the turning-point in Macedonian 

history. Hitherto, if we except Archelaiis, Macedonia had 

, not possessed a sino-le kin<>; whose abilities ex- 

AccGSSion of CT? C7 

Philip, U.C. ceeded the common average, or whose aims had 
about them any thing of grandeur. Notwith- 
standing their asserted and even admitted Hellenism, the 
" barbarian " character of their training and associations 
had its effect on the whole line of sovereigns ; and their 
highest qualities were the rude valor and the sagacity bor- 
dering upon cunning which are seldom wanting in savages. 
But Philip was a monarch of a different stamp. In natural 
ability he was at least the equal of any of his Greek contem- 
poraries ; while the circumstances under which he grew to 
manhood were peculiarly favorable to the development of 
his talents. At the impressible age of fifteen, he was sent 
as a hostage to Thebes, where he resided for the greater 
part of three years (b.c. 368 to 365), while that state was at 
the height of its prosperity under Pelopidas and Epaminon- 
das. He was thus brought into contact with those great 
men, was led to study their system, and emulate their ac- 



228 MACEDONIA. [iiook iv. 

tions. He learnt the great importance of military training, 
and the value of inventiveness to those who wish to suc- 
ceed in war ; he also acquired a facility of expressing him- 
self in Greek, which was uncommon in a Macedonian. 

8. The situation of Philip at his accession was one of ex- 
treme embarrassment and difficulty. Besides Amyntas, his 
Condition of i^^^P^i^w, for whom he at first professed to be rc- 
ivDicedouian ejent, there were at least five pretenders to the 

affairs. First °, /? i -r. • -■ * 

successes of throne, two 01 whom, r'ausamas and Argaeus, 
" '^' . were supported by the arms of foreigners. The 
Illyrians, moreover, had recently gained a great victory over 
Perdiccas, and, flushed with success, had advanced into Mac- 
edonia and occupied most of the western provinces. Paeonia 
on the north, and Thrace upon the east, were unquiet neigli- 
bors, whose hostility might be counted on whenever other 
perils threatened. Within two years, however, Philip had 
repressed or overthrown all these enemies, and found him- 
self free to commence those wars of aggression by which he 
converted the monarchy of Macedon into an empire. 

Peace purchased from Thrace, B.C. 359. Negotiations with Athens. Am- 
phipolis evacuated. Argaus defeated and captured. Pajonia invaded, B.C. 
858. Great defeat of the Illyrians under Bardylis. Macedonian frontier 
pushed westward to Lake Lychnitis. Philip proclaimed king, b.c. .359. 

9. Hitherto it had been the policy of Philip to profess 
himself a friend of the Athenians. Now, however, that his 

hands were free, it was his first object to disembar- 
upon Atheus, rass liimsclf of these near neighbors, who blocked 
B.c.358,357. ^^^ ^^.g coact-line, watched his movements, and 
might seriously interfere with the execution of his projects. 
Accordingly, towards the close of b.c. 358, when Athens was 
already engaged in the " Social "War," he suddenly laid siege 
to Araphipolis. Having taken the town, while he amused 
Athens with promises, he proceeded to attack and capture 
Pydna and Potidaea, actual Athenian possessions, making 
over the latter to Olynthus, to foment jealousy between her 
and Athens. He then conquered the entire coast district 
between the Strymon and the Nestus, thus becoming mas- 
ter of the important Thracian gold-mines, from which he 
shortly derived an annual revenue of a thousand talents ! 

Marriage of Philip with Olympias, b.c. 357. Foundation of Philippopolis, 
or Philippi, on the site of Crenides, for the protection of the gold-mines. 
Birth of Alexander, B.C. 35G. 



i^K. I.] REIGN OF PHILIP. 229 

10, The year after these conquests we find Philip in Thes- 
saly, where he interferes to protect the Aleuadae of Larissa 

„ aojainst the tyrants of Pherae. The tyrants call 

Absorption of . = • n n i -r»i • 1 • 1 /» 

Thessaiy, b.o. m the aid of the Phocians, then at the zenith oi 
their power, and Philip suffers certain reverses ; 
but a few years later he is completely victorious, defeats and 
kills Onomarchus, and brings under his dominion the whole 
of Thessaiy, together with Magnesia and Ach^ea Phthiotis. 
At the same time, he conquers Methone, the last Athenian 
possession on the coast of Macedon, attacks Mavoneia, and 
threatens the Chersonese. Athens, the sole power which 
could effectually have checked these successes, made only 
slight and feeble efforts to prevent them. Already Philip 
had found the advantage •f having friends among the Attic 
orators ; and their labors, backed by the selfish indolence 
which now characterized the Athenians, produced an in- 
action, which had the most fatal consequences. 

First expedition of Philip into Thessaiy, b. c. 355, Conquest of Methone, 
B.C. 354. Second expedition into Thessaiy, b.c. 353. Philip twice defeated 
by Onomarchus. Third expedition ; victory of Philip ; Onomarchus slain, 
B.C. 352. 

11. The victory of Philip over Onomarchus roused Ath- 
ens to exertion. Advancing to Thermopylae, Philip found 
Conduct f ^^^^ P^^^ already occupied by an Athenian army, 
the "Sacred and did not venture to attack it. Greece was 

War " 

saved for the time; but six years later the folly 
of the Thebans, and the fears of the Athenians, who were 
driven to despair by the ill success of the Olynthian and 
Euboic wars, admitted the Macedonian conqueror within 
the barrier. Accepted as head of the league againet the 
impious Phocians, Philip in a few weeks brought the " Sa- 
cred War " to an end, obtaining as his reward the seat in 
the Amphictyonic Council of which the Phocians were de- 
prived, and thus acquiring a sort of right to intermeddle as 
much as he liked in the affairs of Central and even South- 
ern Hellas. 

Attempt to pass Thermopylte fails, b.c. 352. Philip attacks Heroeon-tei- 
chos. His navy damages the commerce of Athens, B.C. 351. Olynthian 
war commences, B.C. 350. Euboea revolts from Athens, B.C. 349. Victory 
of Phociou at Tamynce. Olynthian war ended by the captm-e and destruc- 
tion of Olynthus and thirty-one other Chalcidic cities, B.C. 347. Despair of 
Athens. The Thebans invite Philip to conduct the war against the Pho- 



230 MACEDONIA. [hook iv. 

cians. Athens negotiates a peace, desei'ting the Phocians, who, as they can 
not hold Thermopylce without the aid of the Athenian fleet, are compelled to 
make their submission, b. c. 346. Philip enters Phocis, reduces all the towns, 
and disperses the inhabitants into villages. Accepted into the Amphictyonic 
League, he ne«essarily becomes its head. 

12. The main causes of Philip's wonderful success were 
twofold: — (a) Bettering the lessons taught him by his 

-^, ., model in the art of war, Epaminondas, he had 

Causes of Phil- . . t , -nr t • 

ip's wouderfui armed, equipped, and tramed the Macedonian 
forces till they were decidedly superior to the 
troops of any state in Greece. The Macedonian phalanx, 
invincible until it came to be oj)posed to the Romans, was 
his conception and his work. Nor was he content with ex- 
cellence in one arm of the service On every branch he be- 
stowed equal care and thought. Each was brought into a 
state nearly approaching perfection. His cavalry, heavy 
and light, his peltasts, archers, slingers, darters, were all the 
best of their kind ; his artillery was numerous and effect- 
ive ; his commissariat service was well arranged, (b) At the 
same time, he was a master of finesse. Taking advantage 
of the divided condition of Greece, and of 'the general prev- 
alence of corruption among the citizens of almost every 
community, he played off state against state and politician 
against politician. Masking his jDurposes uj) to the last mo- 
ment, promising, cajoling, bribing, intimidating, protesting, 
he advanced his interests even more by diplomacy than by 
force, having an infinite fund of artifice from which to draw, 
and scarcely ever recurring to means which he had used 
previously. 

To these main causes must be added, (1) the extraordinary activity of the 
man, who scarcely ever rested a moment, and who seemed almost to possess 
the power of being in several places at once ; and (2) the decline of patriot- 
ism, public spirit, and even courage in Greece — seen especially in the apathy 
of Athens, but really pervading the whole Hellenic world, which had passed 
its prime and was entering on the period of decay. A certain impetus was 
doubtless given to the general decline by the plunder of Delphi, which began 
by shocking and ended by depraving the national conscience ; but the seat 
of the malady lay deeper ; the precocious race was, in fact, prematurely ex- 
hausted, and under no circumstances could the pristine vigor have been re- 
covered. 

13. Philip had made peace with Athens in order to lay 
hold on Thermopylae — a hold which he never afterwards re- 



PER. I.] REIGN OF PHILIP. 231 

laxed. But it Avas far from his intention to main- 
S Eastern tain the peace an hour longer than suited his pur- 
Thrace. ^^^^^ Having once more chastised the Illyrian 
and P^onian tribes, he proceeded to invade Eastern Thrace, 
and to threaten the Athenian possessions in that quarter. 
At the same time, he aimed at getting into his hands the 
command of the Bosphorus, which would have enabled him 
to starve Greece into submission by stopping the importa- 
tion of corn. Here, however, Persia (which had at last come 
to feel alarm at his progress) combined with Athens to re- 
sist him. Perinthus and Byzantium were saved, and the 
ambition of Philip was for the time thwarted. 

The peace with Athens lasted, nominally, six years, B.C. 346 to 340. Ent 
Philip's aggressions recommenced as early as B.C. 343. He occupied Hal- 
onnesus, intrigued in Euboea, and invaded the Chersonese, where Diopeitlies 
opposed him with some success. In b.c. 341 Athens wrested Euboea from 
his grasp ; and in B.C. 340 war was declared formally on both sides. Philip 
laid siege' in succession to Perinthus and Byzantium, but was foiled in both 
attacks, partly by Persian troops, partly by the fleet of Athens under Phoci- 
on. The credit of the Athenian successes at this time is due mainly to the 
counsels of Demosthenes. 

14. But the indefatigable warrior, balked of his prey, and 
obliged to wait till Grecian affairs should take a turn more 
Campaign on favorablc to him, marched suddenly northward 
i^anub/^Bc ^^^ engaged in a campaign on the Lower Dan- 
339. ' * ' nbe against a Scythian prince who held the tract 
now known as Bulgaria. Victorious here, he recrossed the 
Balkan with a large body of captives, when he was set upon 
by the Triballi (Thracians), defeated, and wounded in the 
thigh, B.C. 339. The wound necessitated a short period of 
inaction ; but while the arch-plotter rested, his agents were 
busily at work, and the year of the Triballian defeat saw 
the fatal step taken, which was once more to bring a Mace- 
donian army into the heart of Greece, and to destroy the last 
remaining chance of the cause of Hellenic freedom. 

Disturbance at the Amphictyonic Congress of March, b. c. 339. ^schines 
procures a decree against the Locrians of Amphissa. Refusal of Athens and 
Thebes to join in the new crusade. Attempt to execute the decree fails. Aid 
of Philip invoked. He consents, and marches southward. 

15. Appointed by the Amphictyons as their leader in a 
new " Sacred War," Philip once more passed Thermopylse 



232 MACEDONIA. [book iv. 

Second expe- ancl entered Phocis. But he soon showed that he 
fpintoGrS!;e.' Came on no trivial or temporary errand. The oc- 
foueia^io.^^' pupation of Nicasa, Cytiniura, and more especially 
338. ' of Elateia, betrayed his intention of henceforth 

holding possession of Central Greece, and roused the two 
principal powers of the region to a last desperate effort. 
Thebes and Athens met him at Chseroneia in,full force, with 
contingents from Corinth, Phocis, and Achgea. But the Mac- 
edonian phalanx was irresistible ; and the complete defeat 
of the allies laid Greece at Phili^ys feet. The Congress of 
Corinth (b.c. 337), attended by all the states except Sparta, 
which proudly stood aloof, accepted the headship of Mace- 
don ; and the cities generally undertook to supply contin- 
gents to the force which he designed to lead against Persia. 

16. This design, however, was not executed. Great prep- 
arations were made in the course of B.C. 337 ; and early in 
Design to in- B.C. 336 the vau-guard of the Macedonian army 
PhlfiJassSsi- "^^^^ Sent across into Asia. But, a few months 
uated.B. 0.336. later, the sword of Pausanias ternainated the ca- 
reer of the Macedonian monarch, who fell a victim, in part 
to his unwillingness, or his inability to execute justice upon 
powerful offenders, in part to the quarrels and dissensions in 
his own family. Olympias certainly, Alexander probably, 
connived at the assassination of Philip, whose removal was 
necessary to their own safety. He died at the age of forty- 
seven, after a reign of twenty-three years. 

1 7. It is difficult to say what exactly was the government 
of Macedonia under this prince. Practically, the monarch 
Character of must havc been nearly absolute; but it would 
niai?5?vei°n. appear that, theoretically, he was bound to gov- 
meut. ej.jj according to certain long-established laws and 
customs ; and it may be questioned whether he would have 
dared at any time to trangress, flagrantly and openly, any 
such law or usage. The Macedonian nobles were turbulent 
and free of speech. If accused of conspiracy or other crime, 
they were entitled to be tried before the public assembly. 
Their power must certainly have been to some extent a 
check upon the monarch. And after the formation of a great 
standing army, it became necessary for the monarch to con- 
sult the feelings and conform his acts to the wishes of the 
soldiers. But there seems to have been no such reo^ular 



PER. I.] REIGN OF ALEXANDER. 233 

machinery for checking and controlling the royal authority 
as is implied in co7istitutio7ial government. 

:Flxtui^, Geschichte Makedoniens. Leipzig, 1832-34; 2 vols. 8vo. Con- 
tains an overstatement of the constitutional character of the Macedonian gov- 
ernment. 

18. The reign of Alexander the Great has in the history of 
the world much the same importance which that of his father 
ReignofAiex- tas in the history of Macedonia and of Greece. 
n^5f ^^l n^r Alexander revolutionized the East, or, at any rate, 
-323. so much of it as was connected with the West 

by intercourse or reciprocal influence. The results of a con- 
quest effected in ten years continued for as many centuries, 
and remain in some respects to the present day. The Hel- 
lenization of Western Asia and North-eastern Africa, which 
dates from Alexander's successes, is one of the most remark- 
able facts in the history of the human race, and one of those 
most pregnant with important consequences. It is as absurd 
to deny to the author of such a revolution the possession of 
extraordinary genius as to suppose that the Iliad could have 
been written by a man of no particular ability. 

See, on the Hellenization of Asia, in part by Alexander, in part by his suc- 
cessors, the important work of Droysen, Geschichte des Hellenismus oder der 
Bildung des Hellenistischen Staaten Systemes. Hamburg, 1843 ; 8vo. 

19. The situation of Alexander, on his accession, was ex- 
tremely critical ; and it depended wholly on his own energy 

. , ,.^ and force of character whether he would retain 

His early difli- , . „ , , , •, tt- 

cuities. He is his father's power or lose it. His position was 
the^feaSsSp far from assured at home, where he had many 
of Greece. yiyals ; and among the conquered nations there 
was a general inclination to test the qualities of the new 
and young prince by tlie assertion of independence. But 
Alexander was equal to the occasion. Seizing the throne 
without a moment's hesitation, he executed or drove out his 
rivals. Forestalling any open hostility on the part of the 
Greeks, he marched hastily, at the head of a large army, 
through Thessaly, Phocis, and BcBotia, to Corinth, and there 
required, and obtained, from the deputies whom he had con- 
vened to meet him, the same " hegemony," or leadership, 
. which had been granted to his father. Sparta 
Thrace^andii- alone, as shc had done before, stood aloof From 
• ^^"'^- Corinth, Alexander retraced his .steps to Macedon, 



234 MACEDONIA. [book iv. 

and thence proceeded to chastise his enemies in the North 
and West, invading Thrace, defeating the Triballi and the 
Geta3, and even crossing the Danube ; after which he turned 
southward, and attacked and defeated the lUyrians under 
Clitus and Glaucias. 

20. Meanwhile, in Greece, a false report of Alexander's 
death induced Thebes to raise the standard of revolt. A 
Kevoitandde- general insurrection might have followed but for 
Thebe?"ij!o. ^^^ promptness and celerity of the young mou- 
ses- arch. Marching straight from Illyria southward, 
he appeared suddenly in Boeotia, stormed and took Thebes, 
and, after a wholesale massacre, punished the survivors by 
completely destroying their city and selling them all as 
slaves. This signal vengeance had the effect intended. All 
Greece was terror-struck ; and Alexander could feel that he 
might commence his Asiatic enterprise in tolerable security. 
Greece was now not likely to rebel, unless he suffered some 
considerable reverse. 

21. In the spring of B.C. 334 Alexander passed the Helles- 
pont with an army numbering about 35,000 men. The itsu- 

„ , al remissness of the Persians allowed him to cross 

Passage of the ... . . a ^ n 

Hellespont, without oppositiou. A plan oi operations, sug- 
Granfcus, B.O. gcstcd by Memnon the Rhodian, which consist- 
^^** ed in avoiding an engagement in Asia Minor, and 

carrying the war into Macedonia by means of the over- 
whelming Persian fleet, was rejected, and battle was given 
to Alexander, on the Granicus, by a force only a little supe- 
rior to his own. The victory of the invader placed Asia 
Minor at his mercy, and Alexander with his usual celerity 
proceeded to overrun it. Still, he seems to have been un- 
willing to remove his army very far from the ^gean coast, 
so long as Memnon was alive. But the death of that able 
commander, in the spring of B.C. 333, left him free to act ; 
and he at once took the road which led to the heart of the 
Persian empire. 

22. The conflict at Issus between Alexander and Darius 
himself was brought on under circumstances peculiarly fa- 
Battieofis- vorable to the Macedonian monarch. Darius had 
ber.SoS. intended to fight in the plain of Antioch, where 
T??e^,'Gfza,^^ his vast army would have had room to act. But, 
and Egypt. ^g Alexander did not come to meet him, he grew 



PER. I.] ALEXANDER'S CONQUESTS. 235 

impatient, and advanced into the defiles which lie between 
Syria and Cilicia. The armies met, almost without warning, 
in a position where numbers gave no advantage. Under 
such circumstances the defeat of the Persians was a matter 
of course. Alexander deserves less credit for the victory of 
Issus than for the use he made of it. It was a wise and far- 
seeing policy which disdained the simple plan of pressing 
forward on a defeated foe, and preferred to let him escape 
and reorganize his forces, while the victory was utilized in 
another way. Once possessed of the command of the sea, 
Alexander would be completely secure at home. He there- 
fore proceeded from Issus against Tyre, Gaza, and Egypt. 
Twenty months sufficed for the reduction of these places. 
Having possessed himself of all the maritime provinces of 
Persia, Alexander, in B.C. 331, proceeded to seek his enemy 
in the heart of his empire. 

The foundation of Alexandria in the most favorable situation for commerce 
that Egypt offers, indicated that Alexander was no vulgar conqueror, but one 
with far-sighted aims and projects. Alexandria, as the capital of a separate 
kingdom, may have grown to be more than its founder ever intended ; but it 
could under no circumstances have failed to become a great city. Alexander 
deserves credit both for conceiving the idea of changing the capital, and for 
fixing on so excellent a site. 

23. In the final conflict, near Arbela, the relative strength 
of the two contending parties was fairly tried. Darius had 
Battle of Ar- Collected the full force of his empire, had selected 
beia,B.o.33i. ^^-^^ prepared his ground, and had even obtained 
the aid of allies. His defeat was owing, in part, to the in- 
trinsic superiority of the European over the Asiatic soldier; 
Surrender of in part, and in great part, to the consummate abil- 
Susjf/andPer- ^^J of the Macedonian commander. The conflict 
sepoiis. ^as absolutely decisive, for it was impossible that 
any battle should be fought under conditions more favorable 
to Persia. Accordingly, the three capitals, Babylon, Susa, 
and Persepolis, surrendered, almost without resistance ; and 
the Persian monarch became a fugitive, and was ere long 
murdered by his servants. 

Agis, the Spartan king, heads an insurrection in Greece ; but is attacked 
and defeated by Antipater, b.c. 330. 

24. The most remarkable part of Alexander's career now 
commences. An ordinary conqueror would have been sat- 



236 MACEDONIA. [b(Jok iv. 

Conquest of isfiecl with the submission of the great caj^itals, 
easteru^prov- ^"<^^ Avould have awaited, in the luxurious abodes 
inces, aud in- ^yhich they oflered, the adhesion of the more dis- 

vasion ot In- -J t-» ^ * i 

dia. tant provinces. But for Alexander rest possessed 

no attractions. So long as there were lands or men to con- 
quer, it was his delight to subjugate them. The pursuit of 
Darius and then of Bessus, drew him on to the north-eastern 
corner of the Persian Empire, whence the way was open into 
a new world, generally believed to be one of immense wealth. 
From Bactria and Sogdiana, Alexander proceeded through 
Affghanistan to India, which he entered on the side whence 
alone India is accessible by land, viz., the north-west. At 
first he warred with the princes who held their governments 
as dependencies of Persia ; but, when these had submitted, 
he desired still to press eastward, and complete the subjuga- 
tion of the continent, which was believed to terminate at no 
great distance. The refusal of his soldiers to proceed stop- 
ped him at the Sutlej, and forced him to relinquish his de- 
signs, and to bend his steps homeward. 

Details of the March to Bactria and India. Advance to Ecbatana, 
B.C. 330. March thence to Rhages. Murder of Darius by Bessus. Flight 
of Bessus. Conquest of Hyrcania, Aria, and Drangiana. Trial and execu- 
tion of Philotas. Execution of Parmenio. Invasion of Bactria and capture 
of Bessus, B.C. 329. March to the Jaxartes. Conquest of Bactria and Sog- 
diana, B.C. 328-7. Murder of Clitus. Execution of Callisthenes. March 
to the Indus, b.c. 32G. Defeat of Porus. Advance to the Hyphasis (Sutlej) 
— refusal of the troops to proceed fiirther. Descent of the Indus, B.C. 326-5. 

25. It was characteristic of Alexander, that, even when 
compelled to desist from a forward movement, he did not re- 
trace his steps, but returned to the Persian capital by an en- 
tirely new route. Following the course of the Indus in ships 
built for the purpose, while his army marched along the 
banks, he conquered the valley as he descended, and, having 
reached the ocean, proceeded with the bulk of his troops 
westward through Gedrosia (Beloochistan) and Carmania 
into Persia. Meanwhile his admiral, ISTearchus, sailed from 
the Indus to the Euphrates, thus reopening a line of commu- 
nication which had probably been little used since the time 
of Darius Hystaspis. Alexander, in his march, experienced 
terrible difficulties ; and the losses incurred in the Gedrosian 
desert exceeded those of all the rest of the expedition. Still 



PER. I.] DEATH OF ALEXANDER. 237 

he brought back to Persepolis the greater portion of his 
army, and found himself in a position, not only to maintain 
his conquests, but to undertake fresh ones, for the purpose 
of rounding off and completing his empire. 

The voyage of Nearchus lasted five months, from the end of September, B.C. 
325, to the end of February, B.C. 324. Alexander's land march from the 
Indus to Persepolis, the greatest feat that he ever performed, occupied about 
the same period. We must ascribe to the prestige of his previous successes 
the fact that he was not attacked and crashed on this return march through 
trackless and utterly desert regions. 

Nearchus's voyage was treated, in the last century, by Vincent, whose 
work, The Voyage of Nearchus from the Indus to the Euphrates (London, 
1797 ; 4to), was very creditable to the author. A better comment on the 
text will, however, be found in the Geographi Greed Minores of Mons. C. 
MtJLLEK. (See p. 224.) 

26. It was the intention of Alexander, after taking the 
measures which he thought advisable for the consolidation 
of his empire, and the improvement of his intended capital, 
Babylon, to attempt the conquest of the peninsula of Arabia 
— a vast tract inconveniently interposed between his west- 
ern and his eastern provinces. A fleet, under Nearchus, was 
to have proceeded along the coast, whilst Alexander, with 
an immense host, traversed the interior. But these plans 
were brought to an end by the sudden death of their pro- 
jector at Babylon, in the thirteenth year of his reign and the 
thirty-third of his age, June, b.c. 323. This premature de- 
mise makes it impossible to determine whether, or no, the 
political wisdom of Alexander was on a par with his strate- 
gic ability — whether, or no, he would have succeeded in con- 
solidating and uniting his heterogeneous conquests, and have 
proved the Darius as well as the Cyrus of his empire. Cut 
off unexpectedly in the vigor of early manhood, he left no 
inheritor, either of his power or of his projects. The empire 
which he had constructed broke into fragments soon after 
his death ; and his plans, whatever they were, perished with 
him. 

The policy of Alexander, so far as appears, aimed at complete fusion and 
amalgamation of his own Graico-Macedonian subjects with the dominant 
race of the subjugated countries, the Medo-Persians. He felt the difficulty 
of holding such extensive conquests by garrisons of Europeans, and therefore 
determined to associate in the task of ruling and governing the Asiatic race 
which had shown itself most capable of those high functions. Ultimately, 
he would have fused the two peoples into one by translations of populations 



(9 Uaa^axaax^ |j-\ -^-mrifX) 

238 MACEDO^'IA. [book iv. 

and intermarriages. Meanwhile, he united the two in the military and civil 
sei-vices, incorporating 20,000 Persians into his phalanx, appointing many- 
Persians to satrapies, and composing his court pretty equally of Persian and 
Macedonian noblemen. His scheme had the merits of originality and in- 
trinsic fairness. Its execution would undoubtedly have elevated Asia to a 
point which she has never yet reached. But this advantage could not have 
been gained without some counterbalancing loss. The mixed people which 
it was his object to produce, while vastly superior to ordinary Asiatics, would 
have fallen far below the Hellenic, perhaps even below the Macedonian type. 
It is thus not much to be regretted that the scheme was nipped in the bud, 
and Hellenic culture preserved in tolerable purity to exercise a paramount 
influence over the Koman, and so over the modern, world. 

The death of Alexander has been ascribed by some to poison, by others to 
habitual drunkenness. But the hardsliips of the Gedrosian march and the 
unhealthiness of the Chaldaian marshes sufficiently account for it. 



SECOND PERIOD. 

From the Death of Alexander the Great to the Battle of Ipsus, 
B.C. 323 to 301. 

Sources. The main authority for this period is Diodorus, books xviii. 
to XX, He appears to have followed, in this portion of his History, the con- 
temporary author, Hieronymus of Cardia, who wrote an account of Alex- 
ander and his successors, about B.C. 270. Plutarch's lives of Eumenes, 
Demetrius, and Phocion are also of considerable value; for, though he 
draws generally from Diodorus, yet occasionally he has i-ecourse to inde- 
pendent authorities, e. g., Duris of Samos, who wrote a Greek and also a 
Macedonian Histoiy, about b.c. 280. The thirteenth book of Justin's His- 
tory and the fragments of Arrian and Dexippus should also be consulted. 
For these fragments, see the Fragmenta Historicoruvi Grcecorum of C. MiJL- 
LER, vol. iii. 

Among modern Avorks especially treating of the period, the best is 

Droysen, Geschichte der Nachfolger Alexander s des Grossen. Hamburg, 
1836-43 ; 2 vols. 8vo. 

The student will do well to consult also chapters xcv. and xcvi. of Mr. 
Grote's History of Greece, and chapters Ivi.-lix. of Bishop Thirlw all's 
work on the same subject. 

1. The circumstances under which Alexander died led 
naturally to a period of convulsion. He left at his death no 
Troubles con- legitimate issue, and designated no successor. 
AiTxlnder's The Macedonian law of succession was uncer- 
death. ^ain ; and, of those who had the best title to the 

throne, there was not one who could be considered by any 
unprejudiced person worthy of it. The great generals of 
the deceased king became thus, almost of necessity, aspirants 
to the regal dignity ; and it was scarcely possible that their 



PER. II. J SUCCESSORS OF ALEXANDER. 239 

rival claims could be settled without an appeal to arms 
and a long and bloody straggle. For a time, the fiction of 
a united Macedonian Empire under the sovereignty of the 
old royal family was kept up ; but from the first the gen- 
erals were the real depositaries of power, and practically a 
division of authority took efiect almost from Alexander's 
death. 

Alexander left behind him an illegitimate son, named Hercules, a boy ten 
or twelve years old. He also left Roxana pregnant. The other living mem- 
bers of the royal family were Arrhidajus, his half-brother, a bastard son of 
Philip, who was grown up ; Cleopatra, Cynane, and Thessaloniea, his sisters ; 
and Eurydice', his niece, daughter of Cynane' and Amyntas, son of Perdiccas 
III. Olympias also, the widow of Philip and mother of Alexander, was still 
living. 

2. The difticulty with respect to the succession was ter- 
minated without bloodshed. The claims of Hercules being 
Settlement of P'^^^scd ovcr, ArrhidcTus, who was at Babylon, was 
the successiou proclaimed king under the name of Philip, and 

with the understanding that he was to share the 
empire with Roxana's child, if she should give birth to a boy. 
At the same time, four guardians, or regents, were appointed 
— Antipater and Craterus in Europe, Perdiccas and Leonna- 
tus (for whom was soon afterwards substituted Melcager) in 
Asia. But the- murder of Meleager by Perdiccas shortly re- 
duced the number of guardians to three. 

3. The sole command of the great army of Asia, assumed 
by Perdiccas on the death of Meleager, made his position 
Great power vastly Superior to that of his European colleagues, 
Hedlstrfbutes ^^^^ enabled him to take the entire direction of af- 
theproviuces. faij-g on his own side of the Hellespont. But, to 
maintain this position, it was necessary for him to content 
the other great military chiefs, who had lately been his 
equals, and who would not have been satisfied to remain 
very much his inferiors. Accordingly, a distribution of sa- 
trapies was made within a few weeks of Alexander's death ; 
and each chief of any pretensions received a province pro- 
portioned to his merits or his influence. 

In this partition, Ptolemy Lagi, reputed an illegitimate son of Phihp, re- 
ceived Egypt; Pithon, Media; Antigonus, Phrygia, Lycia, and Pamphyha; 
Eumenes the Cardian, Cappadocia, which remained, however, still to be con- 
quered ; Leonnatus, Mysia ; Lysimachus, Macedonian Thrace ; Menander, 
Lydia ; Asander, Caria ; Philotas, Cilicia ; and Laomedon, Syria. Near- 



240 MACEDONIA. lHin>K iv. 

chus, Alexander's admiral, received the government of Lycia and Pamphylia, 
as sub-satrap under Antigonus ; and Cleomenes remained in a similar posi- 
tion under Ptolemy Lagi. The other provinces continued under the govern- 
ors appointed by Alexander. 

4. It was not the intention of Perdiccas to break up the 
unity of Alexander's empire. Koxana having given birth 
insubordina- to a boy, the government was carried on in the 
provhiciaf "ame of the two joint kings. Perdiccas's own 
governors. office was that of vizier or prime minister. The 
generals who had received provinces were viewed by Per- 
diccas as mere governors intrusted with their administra- 
tion, and answerable to the kings for it. He himself, as 
prime minister, undertook to give commands to the govern- 
ors as to their courses of action. But he soon found that 
they declined to pay his commands any respect. The cen- 
trifugal force was greater than the centripetal; and the dis- 
integration of the empire was not to be avoided. 

Leonnatus and Antigonus, required by Perdiccas to put Eumenes in pos- 
session of Cappadocia, make light of his orders. Antigonus does nothing. 
Leonnatus schemes to marry Cleopatra and supplant Antipater in Macedon ; 
but wishing first to put down the insurrection of the Greeks, he marches into 
Thessaly, where he falls. Ptolemy Lagi puts Cleomenes to death, and acts 
as independent prince in Egypt. Perdiccas has to undertake the Cappado- 
cian war in jDcrson, defeats Ariarathes, and installs Eumenes. In another part 
of the empire, Pithon plans to make himself independent by the help of those 
discontented colonists who had been" settled by Alexander along his north- 
eastern frontier ; he is balked, however, by the foresight and prompt cruelty 
of the vizier. 

5. It was probably the uncertainty of his actual position, 
and the difficulty of improving it without some violent step, 

, that led Perdiccas to entertain the idea of re- 

Ambition of . ,, i • i i • i /? • • . i 

Perdiccas. moving the kmgs, and himseii seizmg the em- 
the Scraps pire. Tliougli he had married Nicsea, the daugh- 
against him. ^^^. ^£ Antipater, he arranged to repudiate her, 
and negotiated a marriage with Cleopatra, Alexander's sis- 
ter. Such a union would have given to his claims the color 
of legitimacy. The opposition which he had chiefly to fear 
was that of his colleagues in the regency, Antipater and 
Crateinis, and of the powerful satraps, Ptolemy Lagi and 
Antigonus. The former he hoped to cajole, while he crush- 
ed the latter. But his designs were penetrated. Antigonus 
fled to Macedonia, b.c. 822, and warned Cratevus and Antip- 



I'ZK. II.] SUCCESSOKS OF ALEXANDER. 241 

ater of their danger. A league was made between them 
and Ptolemy ; and thus, in the war which followed, Perdic- 
cas and his friend Eumenes were engaged on the one side 
against Antipater, Craterus, Antigonus, and Ptolemy Lagi 

on tlie other. 

6. Perdiccas, leaving Eumenes to defend Asia, marched in 
person against Ptolemy. His army was from the first dis- 
First war ^ affected ; and, when the military operations with 
among the which hc Commenced the campaign failed, they 
15.C. .321. " openly mutinied, attacked him, and slew him in 
S.''^^'" his tent. Meanwhile Eumenes, remaining on the 
defensive in Asia Minor, repulsed the assaults made upon 
him, defeated and slew Craterus, and made himself a great 
reputation. . 

7. The removal of Perdiccas from the scene necessitated 
a new arrangement. Ptolemy declining the regency, it was 
conferred bv the army of Perdiccas on Pithon 
t^itXt" and Arrhidius, two of their generals, who with 
^'-^- difficulty maintained their position against the 

intrigues of Eurydice, the young wife of the mock monarch, 
Philip ArrhidjBus, until the arrival of Antipater in Syria, to 
whom they resigned their office. Antipater, now became 
sole regent, silenced Eurydice, and made a fresh division of 
the provinces at Triparadisus, in Northern Syria, B.C. 320. 

By this division, Avhile Ptolemy Lagi and Antigonus retained their old gov- 
ernments, Clitus received Lydia, and Arrhidoeus Mysia or the Hellespontine 
Phrygia ; Seleucus was made satrap of Babylon, and Antigonus satrap of 
Susiana. The care and custody of the two kings was at first intnxsted to 
Antigonus, but afterwards assumed by Antipater himself. To Antigonus 
was assigned the conduct of the war with Eumenes. Cassander, the son 
of Antipater, was made second in command under Antigonus, with the title 
of chiliarch. 

8. A war followed between Antigonus and Eumenes. De- 
feated in the open field through the treachery of ApoUonides, 
Wars of An- whom Antigonus had bribed, Eumenes took ref- 
ligouus with ^^^Q 1^ ^jjg mountain fastness of Nora, where he 
of Ptolemy defended himself successfully against every at- 
dou. '^°™^' tack for many months. Antigonus turned his 
arms against other so-called rebels, defeated them, and be- 
came master of the greater part of Asia Minor. Meanwhile, 
Ptolemy picked a quarrel with Laomedon, satrap of Syria, 
sent an array into his province, and annexed it. 

11 



242 MACE])ONIA. [book iv. 

9. The death of the regent Aiitipater hi Macedonia pro- 
duced a further complication. Overlooking the claims of 
Death of An- his son, Cassauder, he bequeathed the regency to 
Sc"of Pol- ^i^ friend, the aged Polysperchon, and thus drove 
ysperchou. Cassaudcr into opposition. Cassander fled to An- 
tigonus ; and a league was formed between Ptolemy, Cas- 
sander, and Antigonus on the one hand, and Polysperchon 
and Eumenes on the other; the two latter defending the 
cause of unity and of the Macedonian monarchs, the three 
former that of disruption and of satrapial independence. 

10. Antigonus began the war by absorbing Lydia and at- 
tacking Mysia. He was soon, however, called away to the 
,„ „,, „ East by the threateninoj attitude of Eumenes, 

War of the Sa- •' „ ^ . ^. . ' 

traps agaiust who had Collected a force m Cilicia, with Avhich 
aud Eumenes. lie menaced Syria and Phoenicia. The command 
Death of Eu- of the ^ea, which Phoenicia might have given, 
meues. would have enabled Eumenes and Polysj)erchou 

to unite their forces and act together. It was the policy of 
Antigonus to prevent this. Accordingly, after defeating 
the royal fleet, commanded by Clitus, near Byzantium, he 
marched in person against Eumenes, who retreated before 
him, crossed the Euphrates and Tigris, and united his troops 
Avith those of a number of the Eastern satraps, whom he 
found leagued together to resist the aggressions of Seleucus 
and Pithon. Antigonus advanced to Susa, while Eumenes 
retreated into Persia Proper. Two battles were fought 
with little advantage to either side; but at last the Mace- 
donian jealousy of a foreigner and the insubordination of 
Alexander's veterans prevailed. Eumenes Avas seized by 
his own troops, delivered up to Antigonus, and put to death, 
B.C. 316. 

11. Meanwhile, in Eurojie, Cassander had proved fully ca- 
pable of making head against Polysperchon. After counter- 
Succespesof acting the effect of Polysperchon's proceedings 
Cassander. j^^ Attica and the Peloponnese, he had marched 
into Macedonia, where important changes had taken place 
among the members of the royal family. Eurydice, the 
young wife of Philip Arrhidseus, had raised a party, and so 
alarmed Polysperchon for his own power that he had de- 
termined on making common cause with Olympias, who re- 
turned from Epirus to Macedon on his invitation. Eurydice 



PER. II.] SUCCESSORS OF ALEXANDER. 243 

foiiii'd herself powerless in the presence of the more augusl^ 
princess, and, betaking herself to flight, was arrested, and, to- 
gether with her husband, put to death by her rival, b.c. 317. 
But Cassander avenged her the next year. Entering Mace- 
donia suddenly, he carried all before him,"besieged Olympias 
in Pydna, and, though she surrendered on terms, allowed her 
to be killed by her enemies. Roxana and the young Alex- 
ander he held as prisoners, while he strengthened his title to 
the Macedonian throne by a marriage with Thessalonica, the 
daughter of King Philip. 

12. Thus the rebellious satraps had everywhere triumph- 
ed over the royalists, and the Macedonian throne had fallen. 
Ambition of ^^^^^^g'^^ Roxana and the young Alexander were 
Autigonus. still living. But noAV the victors fell out amon<? 

League form- ° . ^ -r-, 

cd against themsclves. Antigonus, after the death of Eu- 
menes, had begun to let it be seen that nothing 
less than the entire empire of Alexander would content him. 
He slew Pithon, drove Seleucus from Babylonia, and dis- 
tributed the Eastern provinces to his creatures. He then 
marched westward, where important changes had occurred 
during his absence. Cassander had made himself complete 
master of Macedonia and Greece; Lysimachus had firmly 
established himself in Thrace ; and Asander, satrap of Caria, 
had extended his dominion over Lycia and Cappadocia. ' 
These chiefs, fearing the ambition of Antigonus, entered into 
a league with Ptolemy Lagi and Seleucus, now a fugitive at 
his court; and when the terms which they proposed were 
rejected, made preparations for war. 

13. The w\ar of Antigonus against Ptolemy, Cassander, 
Seleucus, Asander (or the Carian Cassander), and Lysima- 
Firstwarof ^^^"'^ lasted for three years. Antigonus had the 
Antigonus assistance of his son Demetrius in Asia, and (at 
traps, u!c. 314- first) of Polyspcrchon and his son Alexander in 
^^^' Europe. He was, on the whole, moderately suc- 
cessful in Syria, Asia Minor, and Greece ; but the recovery 
of Babylonia by Seleucus, and the general adhesion to his 
cause of the Eastern provinces, more than counterbalanced 
these gains. 

Details of the War. Antigonus, anxious to obtain the mastery of the 
pea, begins by attacking Syria and Phoenicia, b.c. 314. Ptolemy Lagi makes 
but a poor defense ; and the fall of Tyre, after a siege of fifteen months, 



244 MACEDONIA. [book iv. 

ijlaces Phcenicia at Antigonus's disposal. At the same time, most of Asia 
Minor is recovered to Antigonus by his nephew, Ptolemy. Antigonus then, 
leaving Demetrius in Phoenicia, proceeds in person against Asander — b.c. 
313 — and succeeds in crushing him. He menaces both Lysimachus and 
Cassander, but is recalled to Syria by the ill success of Demetrius, whom 
Ptolemy has defeated at Gaza, B.C. 312. This victory encourages Seleucus 
to attempt the recovery of Babylon. He marches thither and is well re- 
ceived, defeats Nicanor, governor of Media, and becomes master of Babylo- 
nia, Media, Susiana, and Persia. Demetrius is sent against him as soon as 
his successes are known; but he effects little, and returns to his father. 
Meanwhile, Antigonus recovers Syria, but receives a check in an attempt 
against the Arabs of Petra. Cassander, on the whole, loses ground in 
Greece ; and the desire for a breathing-space induces the greater number of 
the belligerents to consent to a peace in b.c. 311, which none of them intend 
to be lasting. 

14. The terms of the peace negotiated in b.c. 311 were, 
(1) That each should keep what he possessed ; (2) That the 
Peace of b.o, Gi'Gck cities should be independent; (3) That Cas- 
^11- sander should retain his power till the young Al- 
exander came of age. Seleucus was no part)^ to the treaty, 
and was not mentioned in it. It was probably thought that 
he could well hold his own ; though had he been seriously 
menaced, the treaty would have been at once thrown to the 
winds. As it was, only a few months passed before there 
was a renewal of hostilities. 

The murder of lloxana and the young Alexander by the orders of Cassan- 
der was a natural consequence of the third article of the treaty, and was no 
doubt expected by Antigonus. He gladly saw these royal personages re- 
moved out of his way ; while it suited him that the odium of the act should 
attach to one of his adversaries. 

15. Hostilities recommenced in the year following the 
treaty, b.c. 310. They were precipitated by the breach whicli 
Second War took place between Antigonus and his nephew 
of Antigouns Ptolcmy, wlio had been employed by him against 
traps, B.o. 310- Cassandcr in Greece. Ptolemy Lagi was the first 

to take uj) arms. Complaining that Antigonus 
had not withdrawn his garrisons from the Greek cities of 
Asia Minor, he undertook to liberate them. Antigonus, on 
his side, complained that Cassander did not withdraw his 
garrisons from the cities of European Greece. Thus the war 
was renewed, nominally for the freedom of Greece. In re- 
ality, the contest was for supremacy on the part of Antigo- 
nus, for independence on that of the satraps ; and the only 



PER. 11.] SUCCESSORS OF ALEXANDER. 245 

question with respect to Greece was, who should be her 
master. 

Details or the Struggle. Ptolemy ousts the garrisons of Antigonus 
from the maritime towns of Cilicia, but receives a check from Demetrius, B.C. 
310. Polysperchon puts forward Hercules as heir to the Macedonian throne, 
but soon afterwards consents to his murder. Ptolemy assumes the offensive, 
crosses the ^gean, and occupies Sicyon and Corinth, A marriage is ar- 
ranged between him and Cleopatra, Alexander's sister, the last survivor of 
the Macedonian royal house ; but Antigonus prevents it by having Cleopatra 
assassinated, b. c. 308. Demetrius restores Athens to a nominal freedom, b.c. 
307. Adulation of the Athenians. Antigonus recalls Demetrius to Asia, 
and orders him to reduce Cyprus, which was now wholly under Ptolemy, b.c. 
306. Siege of Salamis. Arrival of Ptolemy. Great sea-fight off Salamis, 
one of the most bloody in history. Defeat of Ptolemy, who escapes with 
only eight ships — 17,000 prisoners taken. Antigonus now assumes the dia- 
dem and the royal title ; on which his example is followed by Ptolemy, Cas- 
sander, Lysimachus, and Seleucus. Attempt of Antigonus in the same year 
to reduce Eg\^t fails. Expedition of Demetrius against Rhodes, b.c. 305. 
Gallant defense of the Rhodians secures their neutrality. Demetrius hence- 
forth known as Poliorcetes, the " Besieger." During the absence of Deme- 
trius in Rhodes, Cassander and Polysperchon had gained ground in Greece. 
As soon, therefore, as peace was made with the Rhodians, he crossed the 
.^gean, defeated Cassander, recovered Boeotia and Attica, and re-entered 
Athens, where he passed the winter of b.c. 304 to 303 in gross debauchery 
and impiety. The next spring, b.c. 303, he ins-ades the Peloponnese ; takes 
Sicyon and Corinth ; recovers Achaja, Arcadia, and Argolis ; arranges affairs 
in Western Greece; and prepares to invade Macedonia. Cassander and 
Lysimachus, perceiving their danger, concert measures and implore the aid 
of Seleucus and Ptolemy. While Cassander meets Demetrius in Thessaly, 
Lysimachus invades Asia Minor, b.c. 302. Imprudent inaction of Demetri- 
us. Lysimachus conquers Mysia, Lydia, and part of Phrygia ; but, when 
Antigonus advances to meet him, retreats into Biihynia, and there stands 
on the defensive. Antigonus summons Demetrius to his aid from Europe. 
Ptolemy recovers Syria, but does not venture to proceed any farther. Seleu- 
cus, at the head of all the forces of the East, advances from Babylon, and is 
allowed to effect a junction -with Lysimachus. The combined armies give 
battle to Antigonus and Demetrius at Ipsus in Phrygia, and completely 
defeat them. Antigonus is slain. Demetrius escapes and takes refuge in 
Greece, but is not allowed to enter Athens. 

16. The conquerors at Ipsus, Seleucus and Lysimachus, di- 
vided the dominions of Alexander afresh. As was natural, 
Division of they took to themselves the lion's share. The 
afte?the B^it- S'^'^^^^i* P^^'^ ^^ Asia Minor w^as made over to Ly- 
tie of Ipsus. simachus. Seleucus received Cappadocia, part of 
Phrygia, Upper Syria, Mesopotamia, and the valley of the 
Euphrates. Cilicia was given to Cassander's brother, Pleis- 



240 MACEDONIA. [book iv. 

tarchus. Neither Cassander himself nor Ptolemy received 
any additions to tlieir dominions. 

17. War had now raged over most of the countries con- 
quered by Alexander for the space of twenty years. The 
General con- loss of livcs and the Consumption of treasure had 
Greece^anci been immense. Greece, Asia Minor, Cyprus, and 
the dose of Syria, which had been the chief scenes of con- 
ihe struggle, flict, must have suffered especially. ISTo where 
had there been much attempt at organization or internal 
improvements, the attention of the rulers having been con- 
tinually fixed on military affairs. Still, the evils of constant 
warfare had been, out of Greece at any rate, partly coun- 
terbalanced, (1) by the foundation of large and magnificent 
cities, intended partly as indications of the wealth and great- 
ness of their founders, partly as memorials to hand down 
their names to after ages ; (2) by the habits of military dis- 
cipline imparted to a certain number of the Asiatics ; and 
(3) by the spread of the Greek language and of Greek ideas 
over most of Western Asia and North-eastern Africa. The 
many dialects of Asia Minor died away and completely dis- 
appeared before the tongue of the conqueror ; which, even 
where it did not wholly oust the vernacular (as in Egypt, in 
Syria, and in Upper Asia), stood beside it and above it as the 
language of the ruling classes and of the educated, generally 
intelligible to such persons from the shores of the Adriatic 
to the banks of the Indus, and from the Crimea to Elephan- 
tine. Knowledge rapidly progressed ; for not only did the 
native histories of Egypt, Babylon, Phoenicia, Judaea, and 
other Eastern countries become now for the first time really 
known to the Greeks, but the philosophic thought and the 
accumulated scientific stores of the most advanced Oriental 
nations were thrown open to them, and Greek intelligence 
was able to employ itself on materials of considerable value, 
which had hitherto been quite inaccessible. A great ad- 
vance was made in the sciences of mathematics, astronomy, 
geography, ethology, and natural history, partly through 
this opening up of Oriental stores, partly through the en- 
larged acquaintance with the world and its phenomena which 
followed on the occupation by the Greeks of vast tracts pre- 
A'iously untrodden by Europeans. Commerce, too, in spite 
of the unsettled- state of the newly-occupied countries, ex- 



PER. III., PART I.] SELEUCID^. 247 

tended its operations. On the other hand, upon Greece itself 
familiarity with Asiatic ideas and modes of life produced a 
debasing effect. The Oriental habits of servility and adula- 
tion supei*seded the old free-spoken independence and manli- 
ness ; patriotism and public spirit disappeared ; luxury in- 
creased ; literature lost its vigor ; art deteriorated ; and the 
people sank into a nation of pedants, parasites, and adven- 
turers. 

THIRD PERIOD. 

History of the States into ivhich the Macedonian Monarchy was broken up 
after the Battle of Ipsus. 

PART I. 

History of the Syrian Kingdom of the Seleucidce, B.C. 312 to 65. 

Sources. The original authorities for the history of Syria during this 
period are two books (xix., xx.), and the fragments of several lost books, of 
DiODORUS (lib. xxi.-xxxiv.), the epitome of Justin, some books and frag- 
ments of PoLYBius (especially books v., vii,, and viii.), the Syriaca of Appian, 
LivY (books xxxi. to xlv.), the Books of Maccabees, and the Antiquities of 
JosEPiius. None of these works contain a continuous or complete account 
of the Avhole period ; and the history has to be constructe<l by piecing together 
the different narratives. The chronology of the later kings depends mainly 
upon the dates Avliich appear on their coins. 

Of modern works on the subject the most important are — 

Eoy-Vaillant, J., Imperium Seleucidarum sive historia regiim Syrice. 
Paris, 1681 ; 4to. The 2d edition, published at the Hague in 1732, is the 
best. 

Froelich, E., Annales compendiarii rertim et regum Syrice, numis veterihus 
illustrati. Vienna, 1744 ; folio. A 2d edition followed in 1754. 

Droysen, Geschichte der Nachfolger Alexander's des Grossen. Hamburg, 
1836-43 ; 2 vols. 8vo. 

The period has also been well treated by B. G. Niebuiir in his Vortrdge 
iiber alte Geschichte, vol. iii., Lectures 88-112. 

1. The kingdom of the Seleuciclffi was originally established 
in Inner Asia. It dates from the year b.c. 312, when its 
Foundation of founder, Sclcucus Nicator, or "the Conqueror," 
JS. |i2.^'^"°^' taking advantage of the check which Antigonus 
Eeign of Se- had received by the victory of Ptolemy Lagi over 
leucus. Demetrius, near Gaza, returned to the province 

from which he had been a few years earlier expelled by his 
great adversary, and, re-establishing himself without much 
difficulty, assumed the diadem. •At first, the kingdom con- 
sisted merely of Babylonia and the adjacent regions, Susiana, 



248 MACEDONIAN KINGDOMS. [book iv. 

Media, and Persia ; but, after the unsuccessful expedition of 
Demetrius (b.o. 311), the Oriental provinces generally sub- 
mitted themselves, and within six years from the date of his 
return to Babylon, Seleucus was master of all the countries 
lying between the Indus and Euphrates on the one hand, 
the Jaxartes and the Indian Ocean on the other. 

2. Shortly afterwards he undertook a great campaign 
against Sandracottus (Chandragupta), an Indian monarch, 
Expedition who bore sway in the region about the western 
against India, jjead Streams of the Ganges. After a brief strug- 
gle, he concluded a peace with this powerful prince, who 
furnished liim with 500 elephants, and threw India open to 
his traders. It is 2:)robable that he purchased the good-will 
of Sandracottus by ceding to him a portion of his own Indian 
possessions. 

3. In the year b.c. 302 Seleucus, whose aid had been in- 
voked by Lysimachus and Cassander, set out from Babylon 
Battle of ip- for Asia Minor, and, having wintered in Cappa- 
»us,B.c.30i. ^ocia, eifected a junction with the forces of Ly- 
simachus early in the spring of b.c. 301. The battle of Ipsus 
(see p. 245) followed. Antigonus was defeated and slain, 
and his dominions shared by his conquerors. To the king- 
dom of Seleucus were added Cappadocia, part of Phrygia, 
Upper Syria, and the right bank of the middle Euphrates. 

4. By this arrangement the territorial increase which the 

^ kingdom received was not larsje; but the chanofe 

Enlargement . ° . ,.,?'' . _* 

of the king- in the seat oi empire, which the accession of ter- 
ritory brought about, was extremely important. 
By shifting his capital from Babylonia to Syria, from the 
Lower Tigris to the Orontes, Seleucus thought to strengthen 
Eemovai of ^lii^^sclf against his rivals, Lysimachus and Ptole- 
the capital to my. He forgot, apparently, that by placing his 
capital at one extremity of his long kingdom he 
weakened it generally, and, in particular, loosened his grasp 
upon the more eastern provinces, which were the least Hel- 
lenized and the most liable to revolt. Had Babylon or Se- 
leucia continued the seat of government, the East might 
probably have been retained ; the kingdom of the Parthians 
might never have grown up. Rome, when she interfered in 
the affairs of Asia, would have found a great Greek Empire 
situated beyond the Euphrates, and so almost inaccessible to 



PER. III., I'AKT I.] • SELEUCIDtE. 249 

her arms ; the two civilizations would have co-existed, in- 
stead of being superseded the one by the other, and the his- 
toiy of Asia and of the world would have been widely dif- 
ferent. 

The followers of Alexander inherited from their master a peculiar fondness 
for the building of new cities, which they called after themselves, their fathers, 
or their favorite wives. Cassander built Thessalonica on the bay of the name, 
and Cassandreia in the peninsula of Pallene'. Lysimachus fixed his seat of 
government at a new town, which he called Lysimacheia, on the neck of the 
Chersonese. Antigonus Avas building Antigoneia, on the Orontes, when he 
fell at Ipsus. His son, Demetrius, made his capital Demetrias, on the gulf 
of Pagasffl. Seleucus, even before he transferred the seat of government to 
Antioch, had removed it from Babylon to his city of Seleucia, on the Tigris. 
Ptolemy alone maintained the capital which he found established on his ar- 
rival in Egypt. The numerous Antiochs, Laodiceias, Epiphaneias, and Se- 
leuceias, with which Asia became covered, attest the continuance of the taste 
in the successors of Nicator. 

5. Though Seleucus had come to the rescue, on the invi- 
tation of Ptolemy, Cassander, and Lysimachus, yet he was 
AUianceofSe- "Well aware that he could place no dependence on 
DemeuTusl^ the Continuance of their amity. His success made 
15.C. 299. them jealous of him, and induced them to draw 
nearer to each other, and unite their interests by intermar- 
riages. Seleucus, therefore, cast about for an ally, and found 
one in Demetrius, the son of Antigonus, his late adversary, 
whom he attached to himself in the same way. Demetrius, 
who had escaped from Ipsus with a considerable force, was 
a personage of importance ; and, by supporting him in his 
quarrels with Cassander, and then Lysimachus, Seleucus Avas 
able to keep those princes employed. 

Marriage of Lysimachus with Arsinoe, daughter of Ptolemy Lagi, B.C. 301. 
Of Seleucus with Stratonice, daughter of Demetrius, b. c. 299. Of Antipater, 
second son of Cassander, Avith Eurydice, daughter of Lysimachus ; and of 
Alexander, Cassander's third son, with Lysandi'a, daughter of Ptolemy, soon 
afterwards. Attempt at a match between Demetrius and Ptolemais, daugh- 
ter of Ptolemy, furthered by Seleucus, who seems to have been at this time 
really desirous of peace. Marriage of Lysandra, after Alexander's death, 
with Agathocles, the eldest son of Lysimachus. 

6. In Asia a period of tranquillity followed the marriage 
of Seleucus. Cassander and Lysimachus were occuiDied with 
Tranquil peri- wars in Europe raised by the ambition of Deme- 
tipn?f fhe"em- t^i"s. Ptolemy by himself was too weak to ef- 
^"^' feet any thing, and, having been allowed to retain 

11* 



250 MACEDONIAN KINGDOIMS: [book iv. 

Lower Syria and Palestine, liad no ground of complaint. 
Seleucus employed the interval (about twelve years, b.c. 299 
to 287) in building his capital, Antioch ; enlarging and beau- 
tifying its port, Seleuceia ; and consolidating, arranging, and 
organizing his vast empire. The whole territory was di- 
vided into seventy-two satrapies, Avhich were placed under 
the government of Greeks or Macedonians, not of natives. 
A large standing army was maintained, composed mainly of 
native troops, officered by Macedonians or Greeks. After a 
while, Seleucus divided his empire with his son Antiochus, 
committing to him the entire government of all the prov- 
inces beyond the Euphrates — a dangerous precedent, though 
one which can scarcely be said to have had actual evil con- 
sequences. At the same time, Seleucus yielded to Antio- 
chus the possession of his consort, Stratonice, with whom 
that prince had fallen desperately in love. 

7. The first disturbance of the tranquillity was caused by 
tlie wild projects of Demetrius. That hare-brained prince, 
Invasion of after gaining and then losing Macedonia, plunged 
tri^!^iS^S' suddenly into Asia, where he hoped to win by his 
His death. sword a ncw dominion. Unable to make any se- 
rious impression on the kingdom of Lysimachus, he entered 
Cilicia and became engaged in hostilities with Seleucus, who 
defeated him, took him prisoner, and kept him in a private 
condition for the rest of his life. 

8. Shortly afterwards, b.c. 281, occurred the rupture be- 
tween Seleucus and Lysimachus, which led to the death of 
Rupture with *^^^* aged monarch and the conquest of great part 
Lysimachus. of his dominions. Domestic troubles, caused by 

Conquest of . n i \ n c^ i 

Asia Minor, Arsiuoe, pavcd the way lor the attack oi beleu- 
dei- of seieu- cus, wOio found his best support in the disaffec- 
^^^' tion of his enemy's subjects. The battle of Coru- 

pedion cost Lysimachus his life; and gave the whole of Asia 
Minor into the hands of the Syrian king. It might have 
been expected that the European provinces would have 
been gained with equal ease, and that, with the exception of 
Egypt, the scattered fragments of Alexander's empire would 
have been once more reunited. But an avenger of Lysima- 
chus appeared in the person of the Egyptian exile, Ptolemy 
Ceraunus, the eldest son of Ptolemy Lagi; and as Seleucus 
was proceeding to take possession of Lysimacheia, his late 



PER. III., TART I.] SELEUCIDtE. 251 

rival's capital, he was murdered in open day by the Egyp- 
tian adventurer, who thereupon became king of Macedon. 

9. Antiochus L (Soter) succeeded to his father's domin- 
ions, B.C. 280, and shortly became engaged in hostilities with 
Rei^n of An- Zipoetes and Nicomedes, native kings of Bithynia, 
te'?),'^^c.^2so-" the former of whom had successfully maintained 
2<^i- his independence against Lysimachus. Nicome- 
des (b.c. 2V8), finding his own resources insufficient for the 
struggle, availed himself of the assistance of the Gauls, who 
had been now for some years ravaging Eastern Europe, and 
had already aided him against his brother Zipoetes. With 
their help he maintained his independence, and crij^pled the 
power of Antiochus, who lost N'orthern Phrygia, which was 
occupied by the Gauls and became Galatia, and North-west- 
ern Lydia, which became the kingdom of Pergamus. Anti- 
ochus succeeded in inflicting one considerable defeat on the 
Gauls, B.C. 275, whence his cognomen of "Soter" (Saviour) ; 
otherwise his expeditions were unfortunate ; and the Syrian 
empire at his death had declined considerably below the 
point of greatness and splendor reached under Nicator. 

Unsuccessful expedition against Egypt, b.c. 264, undertaken to support the 
rebel king of Cyrene, Magas, who had espoused Apame, a daughter of An- 
tiochus. Failure of an attempt to recover Pergamus, B.C. 2G3. Antiochus 
defeated near Sardis by Eumenes. Defeat and deatli of Autiocluis in a bat- 
tle ^yith the Gauls near Ephesus, B.C. 2G1. 

10. Antiochus II. suniamed Qevc, "the God," succeeded 
his father. He was a weak and elfeminate prince, sunk in 
Reign of An- seusuality and profligacy, who allowed the king- 
(The"s)"'.o. ^^^^'^ ^o ^^ rulecf by his wives and male favorites. 
261-246. Under him the decline of the empire became rap- 
id. The weakness of his government tempted the provinces 
to rebel ; and the Parthian and Bactrian kingdoms date from 
his reign. The only success which attended him was in liis 
war with Egypt, at the close of which he recovered what he 
had previously lost to Philadelphus in Asia Minor. 

Details of this Reign. Marriage of Antiochus with Laodice, daughter 
of Achaius. Her influence, and that of his sister Apame, wife of Magas, en- 
gage him in a war with Ptolemy Phihidelphus, b.c 2G0, -which is terminated, 
B.C. 252, b}-- a marriage between Antiochus and Berenice, Ptolemy's daugh- 
ter. Soon after the close of this war, B.C. 255, Parthia and Bactria revolt 
and establish their independence. On the death of Pliiladelphus, B.C. 247, 
Antiochus repudiates Berenice and takes back his foi-mer Avife Laodice, Avho, 



252 MACEDONIAN KINGDOMS. [book iv. 

howevei-, doubtful of his constancy, murders him to secure the throne for her 
son Seleucus, b.c. 240. 

11. Seleucus II., surnamed Callinicus, became king on the 
assassination of his father. Throughout his reign, which last- 
Keign of Se- ecl rather more than twenty years, b.c. 24G to 226, 
ifSsl^ij.c.^^' ^^^ w^s most unfortunate, being engaged in Avars 
246-220. with Ptolemy Euergetes, with Antiochus Hierax, 
his own brother, and with the Parthian king, Arsaces II., in 
all of which he met with disasters. Still, it is remarkable 
that, even when his fortunes were at the lowest ebb, he al- 
ways found a means of recovering himself, so that his epi- 
thet of Callinicus, " the Victorious," was not Avholly inap- 
propriate. The kingdom must have been greatly weakened 
and exhausted during his reign ; but its limits were not se- 
riously contracted. Portions of Asia Minor were indeed 
lost to Ptolemy and to Attains, and the Parthians appear to 
have made themselves masters of Hyrcania ; but, excepting 
in these two quarters, Seleucus recovered his losses, and left 
the territories which he had inherited to his son, Seleucus 
Ceraunus. 

Ptolemy Euergetes invades Syria, b.c. 245, to avenge the murder of his 
sister, Berenice, and her infant son, who had been put to death by Laodice, 
Avith the consent of Callinicus. In the war which follows, he carries every 
thing before him. All Asia Avithin the Euphrates, excepting some parts of 
Lydia and Pln-ygia, submits to him. He then proceeds across the Euphra- 
tes, and adds to his dominion Meso]:)Otamia, Babylonia, Susiana, Media* and 
Persia. His exactions, however, make him unpopular ; and on the occur- 
rence of a revolt in Egypt he loses almost all his conquests. Callinicus once 
more rules from the Indus to the iEgean. But an intestine war is soon 
afterwards provoked by the ambition of his brother. Antiochus, sui-named 
Hierax, "the Hawk," at the age of fourteen revolts against Callinicus, and, 
aided by his uncle Andromachus and a body of Gallic mercenaries, obtains 
important successes. Meanwhile, the Parthians had gained advantages in 
Upper Asia, and Callinicus undertook an expedition against them, about b.c. 
237, but Avas defeated in a great battle. The war betAveen the brothers Avas 
then rencAved, and continued till B.C. 229, Avhen Antiochus was completely 
defeated and became a fugitive. It Avas probably during this contest that 
Attains became master of most of Asia Minor. Seleucus died through a Hill 
from his horse, B.C. 226. 

12. Seleucus III. — surnamed Ceraunus, " the Thunderbolt" 
— had a reign which lasted only three years. Assisted by 
Eeigu of Se- his cousin, the younger Achseus, he prepared a 
(Ceraunus). great expedition against the Pergamene mon- 



rKR. m., PART I.] SELEUCIDiE. 253 

arch, Attains, whose dommions now reached to the Taurus. 
His ill-paid army, however, while on the march, became mu- 
tinous ; and he Avas assassinated by some of his officers, b.c. 

223. 

13. On the death of Seleucus III., Antiochus HI, sur- 
named " the Great," ascended the throne. His long reign, 
Reign of Anti- Avhich exceeded thirty-six years, constitutes the 
ochus III. (the jnost eventful period of Syrian history. Antio- 
223-1S7. ' * chus did much to recover, consolidate, and in 
some quarters enlarge, his empire. He put down the im- 
portant rebellions of Molo and Achseus, checked the prog- 
ress of the Parthians and Bactrians, restored his frontier to- 
wards India, drove the Egyptians from Asia, and even at 
one time established his dominion over a portion of Europe. 
But these successes were more than counterbalanced by the 
losses which he sustained in his war with the Romans, whom 
he needlessly drew into Asia. The alliance between Rome 
and Pergamus, and the consequent aggrandizement of that 
kingdom, Avere deeply injurious to Syria, and greatly accel- 
erated her decline. Antiochus was unwise to provoke the 
hostility of the Romans, and foolish, when he had provoked 
it, not to take the advice of Hannibal as to the mode in 
winch the war should be conducted. Had he united with 
Macedonia and Carthage, and transferred the contest into 
Italy, the Roman poAver might have been broken or check- 
ed. By standing alone, and on the defensive, he at once 
made his defeat certain, and rendered its consequences more 
injurious than they would have been otherwise. 

Details of this Reign. At first, the cruel and crafty Carian, Hermeias, 
is all-powerful with the young prince. At his instigation Antiochus makes 
Avar upon Egypt, b.c. 223, while he sends his generals to put down the revolt 
of Molo. When his generals, however, are defeated, he proceeds in person 
against the rebels, defeats and crushes them, B.C. 220, makes a successful 
expedition into Atropatene, and, having caused Hermeias ft) be put to death, 
returns in triumph to Syria. Achasus during his absence had assumed the 
diadem and the title of king. Antiochus remonstrates, but does not march 
against his rebellious relation, preferring to resume his schemes against Egypt. 
An important war follows with Ptolemy Philopator, B.C. 219, in which An- 
tiochus. is at first completely successful; but the battle of Raphia, B.C. 217, 
deprives him of all his conquests, except the maritime Seleuceia, which he 
retains. Antiochus, having made peace with Egypt, turns his arms next 
against Achgeus, B.C. 216, and, assisted by Attalus, defeats him, besieges him 
in Sardis, and finally obtains possession of his person by treachery, B.C. 214. 



254 MACEDONIAN KINGDOMS. [book iv. 

War then followed with Parthia, which had assumed an aggressive attitude 
under Arsaces III., and was threatening Media. Antiochus led his army 
from Ecbatana across the desert to Ilecatompylos, the capital of Parthia, 
which he took, li.c. 213, and then crossed the mountains into Hyrcania, 
where a battle seems to have been fought, the issue of which was so far 
doubtful that Antiochus was induced to make peace with Arsaces, allowing 
liim the title of king, and confirming him in the possession of Parthia and 
Hyrcania. He then turned his arms against Bactria ; but, after gaining 
certain advantages, he admitted Euthydemus also, the Bactrian king, to 
terms, negotiated a marriage between one of his daughters and Demetrius, 
the king's son, and left him in possession of Bactria and Sogdiana. He then 
crossed the Hindoo Koosh into Atfghanistan, r.nd renewed the old Syrian al- 
liance with thfe Indian kingdom of those paits, which was now ruled by a 
monarch who is called Sophagasenus. Finally, Antiochus returned home 
through Arachosia, Drangiana, and Carmania (Candahar, Seistan, and Ker- 
man), where he wintered, and from which he undertook a naval expedition 
against the Arabs on the west shore of the Persian Gulf, whom he punished 
for their j)iracies. 

Return of Antiochus from the East, B.C. 205, and resumption of his Egyp- 
tian projects. A treaty is made with Philip of Macedon for the partition of 
the kingdom of the Ptolemies between the two powers. War in Coele-Syria, 
Phoenicia, and Palestine, with varied success, terminated by a great victory 
over Scopas near Panias, r..c. 198. Marriage of Cleopatra, daughter of An- 
tiochus, Avith Ptolemy V. (Epiphanes). Coele-Syria and Palestine promised 
as a dowry, but not delivered. 

The conquests of Antiochus in Asia Minor and Europe, B.C. 197 to 196, 
bring him into contact with the Romans, who require him to evacuate the 
Chersonese and restore the Greek cities in Asia Minor to freedom. He in- 
dignantly rejects their demands, and prepares for war. Flight of Hannibal 
to his court, B.C. 195. Antiochus makes alliance with the ^tolians, and in 
B.C. 192 crosses into Greece, lands at Demetrias, and takes Chalcis. Great 
battle at Thermopylae between the Romans, under Acilius Glabrio, and the 
allied forces of Antiochus and the ^tolians. Antiochus, completely defeat- 
ed, quits Europe and returns to Asia, B.C. 191. His fleet has orders to pro- 
tect the shores and prevent the Romans from landing. But the battle of 
Corycus ruins these hopes. The Romans obtain the masteiy of the sea ; and 
their army, having crossed the Hellespont without opposition, gains under the 
two Scipios the great victory of Magnesia, which places Antiochus at their 
mercy, b.c. 190. He purchases peace by ceding all Asia Minor except Cili- 
cia, and by consenting to pay a contribution of 12,000 talents. The ceded 
provinces are added by the Romans to the kingdom of Pergamus, Avhich is 
thus raised iiito a rival to Syria, 

The defeat of Magnesia is followed by the revolt of Armenia, B.C. 189, 
which henceforth becomes independent. It leads also to the death of Antio- 
chus, who, in order to pay the war contribution imposed upon him by the 
Romans, is driven to the plunder of the Oriental temples. Hence a tumult 
in Elyma'is, wherein the king is killed, b.c 187. 

14. Antiochus was succeeded by his son, Seleucus IV., 



PER. III., TART I.] SELEUCID^. 

who took the name of Philopator, and reigned eleven yea. 
Reign of se- B.C. 187 to 176. This period was w^holly uneveiit- 
(PhUopator), ^^^^- The fear of Rome, and the wealvness pro- 
ii.o. 187-170. cluced by exhaustion, forced Seleucus to remain 
quiet, even when Eumenes of Pergamus seemed about to 
conquer and absorb Pontus. Rome held as a hostage for 
his fidelity, first, his brother, Antiochus, and then his son, 
Demetrius. Seleucus was murdered by Heliodorus, his 
treasurer (b.c. 176), who hoped to succeed to his dominions. 
15. On the death of Seleucus, the throne was seized by 
Heliodorus ; but it w^as not long before Antiochus, the broth- 
Rciffu of An- er of the late king, Avith the help of the Pergamene 
(EpSiVuIs), monarch, Eumenes, recovered it. This prince, 
B.C. 176-164. -yyiiQ ig known in history as Antiochus IV., or 
(more commonly) as Antiochus Epiphanes, was a man of 
courage and energy. He engaged in important wars with 
Armenia and Egypt; and would beyond a doubt have con- 
quered the latter country, had it not been for the interposi- 
tion of the Romans. Still, the energy of Epiphanes was of 
little benefit to his country. He gained no permanent ad-^ 
vantage from his Egyptian campaigns, since the Romans de- 
prived him even of Cyprus. He made no serious impression 
on Armenia, though he captured Artaxias, its sovereign. On 
the other hand, his religious intolerance raised him up an 
enemy in the heart of his empire, w^iose bitter hostility 
proved under his successors a prolific source of weakness. 
The Jews, favored by former kings of Syria, w^ere driven to 
desperation by the mad project of this self-willed monarch, 
who, not content with plundering the Temi^le to satisfy his 
necessities, profaned it by setting up in the Holy of Holies 
the image of Jupiter Olympius. His luxury and extrava- 
gance also tended to ruin his empire, and made him seek to 
enrich himself Avith the plunder of other temples besides that 
at Jerusalem. An attempt of this kind, which was bafiied, 
in Elymais, is said to have been followed by an access of su- 
perstitious terror, which led to his death at Tabae, b.c. 164. 

Details of this Reign. Antiochus, assisted by Eumenes, drives out 
Heliodorus, and obtains the throne, if.c. 17G. He astonishes his subjects by 
an affectation of Roman manners. His good-natured profuseness. Threat- 
ened with war by the ministers of Ptolemy Philometor, who claim Ccelc-Syria 
and Palestine as the dowry of Cleopatra, the late queen-mother, Antiochus 



256 MACEDONIAN KINGUO.MS. [uooit iv. 

marches against Egypt, and in four campaigns — u.c. 171 to 1G8 — reduces it 
to such straits, that the aid of Home is invoked, and Antiochus is haughtily 
required by Popillius to rehnquish forthwith all his conquests. He obeys 
unwillingly, and vents his rage by cruelties on the Jews, whose temple he 
plunders and desecrates. After this we find him holding a magnificent fes- 
tival at Daphne, which is attended by thousands from all parts of Greece, 
B.C. 1G6. His expedition against Armenia and capture of Artaxias probably 
took place in the next year, B.C. 165, and in the year following, b.c. 164, he 
died, as above stated, at Tabte. 

16. Epiphanes was succeeded by Antiochus V., surnamed 
Eupator, a boy not more than twelve years old. The chief 
ReiguofAn- powcr during his reign was in the hands of Lysi- 
patwriTc^m ^^> whom Epiphanes had left as regent when he 
-^62. quitted Antioch. Lysias attempts to reduce the 
rebel Jews, but allows himself to be diverted from the war 
by the attitude of his rival Philip, whom he attacks, defeats, 
and puts to death. He takes no steps, however, to resist the 
Parthians Avhen they overrun the Eastern provinces, or the 
Komans when they harshly enforce the terms of the treaty 
concluded after the battle of Magnesia. The position of af- 
fairs, which we can well understand the Romans favoring, 
was most injurious to the power of Syria, which, in the hands 
of a minor and a regent, Avas equally incapable of maintain- 
ing internal order and repelling foreign attack. It was an 
advantage to Syria when Demetrius, the adult son of Seleu- 
cus Philopator, escaped from Rome, where he had been long 
detained as a hostage, and, putting Lysias and Eupator to 
death, himself mounted the throne. 

The war between Lysias and Philip, which allowed the Parthians to spread 
unresisted over the fiiirest of the Eastern provinces, was caused by the im- 
prudence of Epiphanes, who had left his young son, Antiochus, to the care 
of Lysias on quitting Antioch, but upon hjs death-bed appointed a new 
guardian in the person of Philip. Philip, who had the support of a part of 
the army, seized Antioch, where he was defeated and slain, b.c. 162. 

1 7. Demetrius, having succeeded in obtaining the sanction 
of Rome to his usurpation, occupied himself for some years 
EeiguofDe- ill attempts to reduce the Jews. He appears to 
ter)%"o.^i62^' have been a vigorous administrator, and a man of 
^^^- considerable ambition and energy; but he could 
not arrest the decline of the Syrian state. The Romans com- 
pelled him to desist from his attacks on the Jews ; and when 
he ventured on an expedition into Cajopadocia, for the pur- 



PER. III., I'Airr I.J 8ELEUCIDJE. 257 

pose of expelling the king Ariaratlies, and giving the crown 
to Orophenies, his bastard brother, a league was formed 
against him by the neighboring kings, to w^hich the Romans 
became parties ; and a pretender, Alexander Balas, an illegit- 
imate son of Epiphanes, was encouraged to come forward 
and claim the throne. So low had the Syrian power now 
sunk, that both Demetrius and his rival courted the favor 
of the despised Jews; and their adhesion to the cause of the 
pretender probably turned the scale in his favor. After two 
years of warfare and two important battles, Demetrius was 
defeated, and lost both his croAvn and life. 

The friendship of Demetrius with the historian Polybius gives an interest 
to his reign which the Syrian history rarely possesses. Polybius advised and 
aided his escape from Rome, and records its circumstances with great mi- 
nuteness. We have more details too of this king's private character and 
tastes than of most others. It appears that he was addicted to hunting 
(whence the symbols on his coins), and was also an intemperate drinker. 

18. Alexander Balas, who had been supported in his strug- 
gle with Demetrius by the kings of Pergamus and Egypt, 

V ofAi ^^'^^ given by the latter the hand of Cleopatra, 
aiuier Balas,* his daughter. But he soon proved himself unfit 
to rule. Committing the management of aifairs 
to an unworthy favorite, Ammonius, he gave himself up to 
every kind of self-indulgence. Upon this, Demetrius, the 
eldest son of the late king, perceiving that Balas had be- 
come odious to his subjects, took heart, and, landing in Cili- 
cia, commenced a struggle for the throne. . The fidelity of 
the Jews protected Alexander for a while ; but when his fa- 
ther-in-law, Ptolemy Philometor, passed over to the side of 
his antagonist, the contest was decided against him. De- 
feated in a pitched battle near Antioch, he fled to Ab?8 in 
Arabia, where he \Vas assassinated by his own officers, who 
sent his head to Ptolemy. 

19. Demetrius II., surnamed Nicator, then ascended the 
throne. He had already, while pretender, married Cleopa- 
First reign of tra, the wifc of his rival, whom Ptolemy had 
(N™ator)T "o. foi*ced Balas to give up. On obtaining full pos- 
146-140. session of the kingdom, he ruled tyrannically, and 
disgusted many of his subjects. The people of Antioch hav- 
ing risen in revolt, and Demetrius having allowed his Jewish 
body-guard to plunder the town, Diodotus of Apamea set up 



258 MACEDONIAN KINGDOMS. [book iv. 

a rival king in the person of Antioclius VI.,son of Alexander 
Balas, a child of two years of age, who bore the regal title 
for three or four years (b.c. 146 to 143), after which Diodo- 
tus removed him, and, taking the name of Trypho, declared 
himself independent monarch (avroKpdriop). After vain ef- 
forts to reduce his rivals for the space of about seven years, 
Demetrius, leaving his wife, Cleopatra, to maintain his inter- 
ests in Syria, marched into his Eastern provinces, which were 
in danger of falling a prey to the Parthians. Here, though 
at first he gained such advantages as enabled him to assume 
the title of" Conqueror" {viKariop), his arms soon met with a 
reverse. Defeated by the Parthian monarch, Arsaces VI., in 
the year e.g. 140, he was taken prisoner, and remained a cap- 
tive at the Parthian court for several years. 

The acknowledgment of Jewish independence by Demetrius shortly be- 
fore his expedition to the East, b.c. 142, was an event of some importance in 
the history of the Jewish nation. Though it may be true that at a later 
period they again fell under the dominion of the Syrian kings, yet it seems 
certain that they dated their independence from the grant of Demetrius. 

20. During the absence of Demetrius in the remote East, 
his wife, Cleopatra, unable to make head against Tryphon, 
Kei^nof Auti- looked out for somc effectual support, and found 
detel)7ic.?37 i^ in Autiochus of Sida (Sidetes), her husband's 
-129. brother, who, joining his arms with hers, attacked 
Tryphon, and after a struggle, which seems to have lasted 
nearly two years, defeated him and put him to death. Auti- 
ochus Sidetes upon this became sole monarch of Syria, b.c. 
137, and contracted a marriage with Cleopatra, his captive 
brother's wife, who considered herself practically divorced 
by her husband's caj^tivity and marriage with a Parthian 
princess. His first step, after establishing his authority, was 
to reduce the Jews, b.c. 135 to 133. A few years later, b.c. 
129, he undertook an expedition into Parthia for the j)urpose 
of delivering his brother, and gained some imj^ortant suc- 
cesses; but was finally defeated by the Parthian monarch, 
who attacked his army in its winter-quarters, and destroyed 
it with its^ commander. 

21. Meanwhile Demetrius H., having been released from 
Second reign Captivity by the Parthian monarch, who hoped 
iffif^AS-^ ^J exciting troubles in Syria to force Autiochus 
'^^^- to retreat, had reached Antioch and recovered 



riiR. III., PART 1.] SELEUCID^E. 250 

his former kingdom. But he was not sufFercd to remain 
long in tranquillity. Ptolemy Physcon, the king of Egypt, 
raised up a j^retender to his crown in the person of Alex- 
ander Zabinas, who professed to be the son of Balas. A 
battle was fought between the rivals near Damascus, in 
which Demetrius was completely defeated. Forced to take 
flight, he sought a refuge with his wife at Ptolemai's, but 
was rejected; whereupon he endeavored to throw himself 
into Tyre, but was captured and slain, b.c. 126. 

22. War followed between Zabinas and Cleopatra, who, 
having put to death Seleucus, her eldest son, because he had 
Parallel iei<^ns ^ssumed the diadem without her permission, as- 
of Aiexancfer gociated Avith liersclf on the throne her second 

II. (Zabmas), a.i t« t '-i -ii' 

Autiochns SOU, Autioclius, and reigned conjointly with hini 
pus),"andc'ieo- till B.C. 121. Zabinas maintained himself in parts 
patra. ^£ Syria for seven years ; but, having quarrelled 

with his patron, Ptolemy Physcon, he was reduced to straits, 
about B.C. 124, and two years afterwards was completely 
crushed by Antiochus, who forced him to sw^allow poison, 
B.C. 122. Soon after Avards — b.c. 121 — Antiochus found him- 
self under the necessity of putting his mother to death in 
order to secure his own life, against Avhich he discovered her 
to be plotting. 

23. Syria now enjoyed a period of tranquillity under Anti- 
ochus VIII., for the space of eight years, b.c. 1 22 to 1 14. The 
Sole reii?n of Eastern provinces were, however, completely lost, 
v?iL^r!!c.\22- ^1^^ ^^^ attempt w^as made to recover them. The 
11^- Syrian kingdom was confined within Taurus on 
the north, the Euphrates on the east, and Palestine on the 
south. Judsea had become wholly independent. The great 
empire, which had once reached from Phrygia to the Indus, 
had shrunk to the dimensions of a province ; and there was 
no spirit in either prince or people to make any effort to re- 
gain what had been lost. The country was exhausted by 
the constant wars, the pillage of the soldiers, and the ra- 
pacity of the monarchs. Wealth was accumulated in a few 
hands. The people of the capital were wholly given up to 
luxury. If Rome had chosen to step in at any time after the 
death of the second Demetrius, she might have become mis- 
tress of the whole of Syria almost without a struggle. At 
first her domestic troubles, and then her contest with Mith- 



260 MACEDONIAN KINGDOMS. [nooK iv. 

ridates, hindered her, so that it was not till half a century 
later that the miseries of Syria were ended by her absorption 
into the Roman empire. 

24. The tranquillity of Antiochus YIII. was disturbed in 
B.C. 114 by the revolt of his half-brother, Antiochus Cyzice- 

it f An "^^'^J ^^^^ ^^^ ^^ Cleopatra by Antiochus Sidetes, 
tiochus Cyzi- her third husband. A bloody contest followed, 
feAeigns of whicli it was attempted to terminate at the close 
Gr^urB.c."'^ of three years, b.c. Ill, by a partition of the ter- 
114-96. ritory. But the feud soon broke out afresh. War 

raged between the brothers for nine years, b.c. 105 to 96, 
Avith varied success, but with no decided advantage to either, 
while the disintegration of the empire rapidly proceeded. 
The towns on the coast. Tyre, Sidon, Seleuceia, assumed in- 
dependence. Cilicia revolted. The Arabs ravaged Syria on 
the one hand, and the Egyptians on the other. At length, 
amid these various calamities, the reign of Antiochus VIII. 
came to an end by his assassination, in b.c. 96, by Ileracleon, 
an officer of his court. 

25. Heracleon endeavored to seize the crown, but failed. 
It fell to Seleucus V. (Epiphanes), the eldest son of Grypus, 
Reign of Se- ■^vho Continued the vv ar with Antiochus Cyzicenus, 
(EpfpL^ies), ^^^^ brought it to a successful issue in the second 
is.o. 96-95. ' year of his reign, b.c. 95, when Cyzicenus, defeated 
in a great battle, slew himself to prevent his capture. But 
the struggle between the two houses was not yet ended. 
Antiochus Eusebes, the son of Cyzicenus, assumed the royal 
title, and attacking Seleucus drove him out of Syria into 
Cilicia, where he perished miserably, being burnt alive by 
the people of Mopsuestia, from Avhom he had required a con- 
tribution. 

26. Philip, the second son of Antiochus Grypus, succeed- 
ed, and carried on the war with Eusebes for some years, in 
Reigns of Conjunction Avith his brothers, Demetrius, and An- 
gSuesfll.S tiochus Dionysus, until at last Eusebes Avas over- 
-C9. ' come and forced to take refuge in Parthia. Phil- 
ip and his brothers then fell out, and engaged in Avar one 
against another. At length the Syrians, seeing no end to 
these civil contests, called to their aid the king of the neigh- 
boring Armenia, Tigranes, and putting themselves under his 
rule, obtained a respite from suifering for about fourteen 



rEK. III., TAUT II.] PTOLEMIES. 261 

years, B.C. 83 to 69. At the close of this period, Tigrancs, 
having mixed liimself up in the Mithridatic war, was defeat- 
ed by the Romans, and forced to relinquish Syria. 

27. The Syrian throne seems then to have fallen to Antio- 
„ . „ . ,. chus Asiaticus, the son of Eusebes, who hield it 

KcignoiAuti- J. „ , ' 

ochus Asiati- for four ycars only, when he was dispossessed by 
' " ■ " ' Pompey, and the remnant of the kingdom of the 
Seleucidae Avas reduced into the form of a Roman province, 
B.C. 65. 

PART II. 

History of the Egyptian Kingdom of the Ptolemies, B.C. 323 to 30. 

Sources. The sources for the Egyptian history of this period are for tlie 
most part identical with those which have been mentioned at the head of the 
last section (p. 247) as sources for the history of the Seleucidas ; but on 
the whole they are scantier and less satisfactory. As the contact between 
Judaia and Egypt during this period was only occasional, the information 
furnished by Josephus and the Books of Maccabees is discontinuous and 
fragmentary. Again, there is no work on Egypt corresponding to the aS^- 
riaca of Appian. The chronology, moreover, is in confusion, owing to the 
fact that the Ptolemies adopted no era, only dating their coins in some in- 
stances by their regnal years ; so that the exactness which an era furnishes is 
wanting. Some important details with respect to foreign conquests and to 
the internal administration are, however, preserved to us in Inscriptions, of 
which the' chief are — 

The Inscription of Adule, seen by Cosmas Indopleusta, about a.d, 
.520, and preserved to us in his work, which Montfaucon has edited in his 
Collectio nova patrum et scriptorum Grcecorum. Paris, 1706 ; 2 vols, folio. 
The inscription itself was first published by Leo Allatius in a small pamphlet 
entitled Ptolemcei Euergetis monumentu)7i Adulitanum. Ronii-e, 1031. It has 
since been edited by Eabricius in his Bihliotheca Grceca, vol. ii. ; by Chi- 
siiuLL in his Antiquitates Asiaticce (London, 1728 ; folio) ; by Boeckii in 
his Corpus Inscriptionum Groecarum, vol. iii., and by others. Mr. Salt was 
the first to point out that it consisted of two entirely distinct documents be- 
longing to very different ages. (See his Narrative in Lord Valentia's Voy- 
ages and Travels to India, Ceylon, etc. London, 1809 ; 3 vols. 4to.) This 
conclusion has since been adopted by Niebuhr, Heeren, Letronne, 
Boeckh, and most scholars. 

The RosETTA Stone, interesting not merely as a key to the decipherment 
of the hieroglyphics, but also as a document throAving considerable light on 
the internal administration of Egypt. The stone itself is in the British Mu- 
seum. The inscription, which belongs to about the year B.C. 196 or 197, 
has been carefully edited by several scholars, among whom may be noticed 
especially — 

Ameilhon, Eclaircissemens sur V inscription Grecque du momiment trouve 
a Rosette. Paris, 1803 ; 8vo. 



2Q2 MACEDONIAN KINGDOMS. [iu)<)k iv. 

Letkonne, Inscription Grecque de Rosette; texte et traduction litterale, 
accompagnee dun commentaire critique, historique, et archeologique. Paris, 
1841; 8vo. 

BoECKH, in his Corpus Inscriptionum Grcecarum, vol. iii. pp. 334-342. 

Among modem works on the History of Egj'pt under the Ptolemies the 
most important are — 

Eoy-Vaillant, Historia Ptolemceorum JEgyjiti regum adjidem numisma- 
turn accoynmodata. Amstel. 1701 ; folio. 

CiiAMPOLLioN-FiGEAC, Aunales des Lagides, ou Chronologic des Rois Grecs 
dEqypte, successeurs d' Alexandre le Grand. Paris, 1819 ; 2 vols. 8vo, 

Letronne, Recherches pour servir a Vhistoire de VEgxjpte 'pendant la domi- 
nation des Grecs et des Romains, tirees des inscriptions Grecques et Latines, 
relatives a la chronologie, h Vetat des arts, aux usages civiles et religieux de ce 
pays. Paris, 1828 ; 8vo. 

The subject is also treated, in connection with the other history of the time, 
bv Droysen, in his Geschichte der Nachfolger Alexanders (supra, p. 238); 
and by Niebuhr in his Vortrdge iiber alte Geschichte (supra, p. 137). A 
/ ood analysis of the chronology is contained in the third volume of the Fasti 
Jlellenici of Clinton (pp. 379-400), and a valuable summary in the Corpus 
J. '.script ionum Grcecarum of Boeckh, vol. iii, p. 288. 

]. The kingdom of the Ptolemies, which owed its origin to 
Alexander the Great, rose to a pitch of greatness and pros- 
^, . , . perity which, it is probable, was never dreamt of 
condition of bv the Conoueror. His subiection or Jicfypt was 

tljc kingdom. -^ vi i • ti i i ^ i * v.^i 

accomplished rapidly; and he spent but little 
time in the organization of his conquest. Still, the founda- 
tion of all Egypt's later greatness was laid, and the charac- 
ter of its second civilization determined, by him, in the act 
by which he transferred the seat of government from the in- 
land position of Memphis to the maritime Alexandria. By 
this alteration not only was the continued pre-eminence of 
tlie Macedo-Greek element secured, but tlie character of the 
Egyptians themselves was modified. Commercial pursuits 
were adopted by a large part of the nation. Intercourse 
with foreigners, hitherto checked and discouraged, became 
common. Production was stimulated; enterprise throve; 
and the stereotyped habits of this most rigid of ancient 
peoples w^ere to a large extent, broken into. In language 
and religion they still continued separate from their con- 
querors ; but their manners and tone of thoAight. underwent 
a change. The stiff-necked rebels against the authority of 
tlie Persian crown became the willing subjects of the Mace- 
donians. Absorbed in the pursuits of industry, or in the 
novel ciiiployment of literature, the Egyptians forgot their 



PER. III., TAUT II. j I'TOLEMIES. 



263 



old love of independence, and contentedly acquiesced in the 
new regime. 

The history of Egypt during this period is, in the main, the history of Al- 
exandria, the capital. Here, and here alone, were the Macedo-Greeks settled 
in any considerable numbers. Here dwelt the Court ; and here was to be 
seen that remarkable contrast of three widely differing elements— the Greek, 
the Jewish, and the native Egyptian— which gave to the Ptolemaic kingdom 
its peculiar character. The Jews were granted by the first Ptolemy great 
privileges in the new capital ; and these they retained to the time of the 
Koman conquest. They formed a distinct community in Alexandria, which 
had its own organization, and was governed by its own officers. The Macedo- 
Greeks were, of course, the sole full citizens. They were divided into tribes 
(9V/M1), and into wards (c//^oi), and had no doubt a (Sovh), or municipal coun- 
cil. The native Egyptians would be without any such privileges. A judge, 
])robably nominated by the monarch, was placed at their head, who was an- 
swerable for their tranquillity. On the government and topography of ancient 
Alexandria the student may consult — 

Mkisi^ke, Analecta A/exandrina. Berlin, 1843 ; 8vo. 

BoNAMY, Description cle la ville d'Alexandrie m the Memoires de VAca- 
demie des Inscriptions, vol. ix. 

Manso, Briefe iiber alt-AIexandrie, in his Vermischte Schri/ten, vol. i. ; 
and the article on Alexandria in Dr. W. Smith's Dictionary/ of Greek and 
Roman Geography. 

2. In the history of nations much depends on the charac- 
ters of individuals ; and Egypt seems to have been very 
?,nl°?^<.^^*°!" lai'gely indebted to the first Ptolemy for her ex- 
«.o. 323-283. traordmary prosperity. Assigned the African 
Palestine, pi'ovinces m the division of Alexander's domin- 
of Sy^S^'uBd'^ ions after his death (b.c. 323), he proceeded at 
Cyprus. ^ once to his government, and, resigning any great 
ambition, sought to render liis own territory unassailable, 
and to make such additions to it as could be attempted with- 
out much risk. It was among his special aims to make Egypt 
a great naval power; and in this he succeeded almost beyond 
his hopes, having after many vicissitudes established his au- 
thority over Palestine, Phoenicia, and Ccele-Syria ; and also 
possessed himself of the island of Cyprus. Cilicia, Caria, 
and Pamphylia were open to his attacks, and sometimes sub- 
ject to his sway. For a time he even held important po- 
sitions in Greece, e. g., Corinth and Sicyon ; but he never al- 
lowed the maintenance of these distant acquisitions to en- 
tangle him inextricably in foreign wars, or to endanger his 
home dominions. Attacked twice in his own province, once 



264 MACEDONIAN KINGDOMS. [hooic iv. 

by Perdiccas (b.c. 321), and once by Demetrius and Antig- 
onns (b.c. 306), he both times repulsed his assailants and 
maintained his own territory intact. Readily retiring if 
danger threatened, he was always prompt to advance when 
occasion offered. His combined prudence and vigor obtained 
the reward of ultimate success ; and his death left Egypt in 
possession of all the more important of his conquests. 

It was essential to the plans of Ptolemy Lagi (Soter) to possess himself 
of Palestine and Phoenicia ; for, in order that Egypt might be a great naval 
power, she required both the timber of those countries and the services of 
their sea-faring population. Ptolemy first occupied them b.c. 320, almost 
immediately after repulsing the attack of Perdiccas, when he took Laome- 
don, the Syrian satrap, prisoner, placed garrisons in the Phoenician towns, 
and annexed the whole region as far as the Taurus range. Six years later, 
B.C. 314:, in the war of the satraps with Antigonus, on the siege and fall of 
Tyre, all was again lost; and though the battle of Gaza, b.c. 312, enabled 
Ptolemy once more to advance and recover his ground to some extent, yet 
in the peace of b.c. 311 the whole of the disputed territory was ceded. It 
was partially recovered in B.C. 302, after the attack of Antigonus on Egypt 
had failed, and he was threatened by Lysimachus and Seleucus. By the 
peace Avhich followed the battle of Ipsus, b.c. 301, Ptolemy was left in pos- 
session of what he had regained, which included Palestine, Phoenicia, and 
perhaps a part of Coele-Syria ; but not Upper Syria, which fell to Seleucus. 

At what time Ptolemy first occupied Cyprus is uncertain ; but as early as 
r..c. 314 it was the scene of conflict between his forces and those of Antig- 
onus. Two years later, b.c. 312, it was completely subjugated by the Eg3'p- 
tian monarch, who placed it under the government of an officer, called Nico- 
crcon, allowing, however, a cei'tain subordinate authority to the native kings. 
One of these, Nicocles, king of Paphos, having intrigued with Antigonus, was, 
in B.C. 309, put to death. In b.c. 306 occurred the expedition of Demetrius 
against Cyprus, the siege of Salamis, and the great naval defeat of Ptolemy 
(see p. 245), which gave Cyprus over to Antigonus and Demetrius. Even 
after Ipsus the island remained faithful to the last-named prince ; and it was 
not till B.C. 294 or 293, when Demetrius was engaged in Macedonia, that 
Ptolemy once more led an expedition into the island and re-established his 
authority over it. From this time Cyprus remained an undisputed posses- 
sion of the Egyptian crown. It was regarded as the most valuable of all the 
foreign dependencies, on account of its position, its mineral Avealth, and its 
large stores of excellent timber. The Ptolemies governed it by means of a 
viceroy, who was always a nobleman of tlie first rank, and united in his per- 
son the military, civil, and sacerdotal authority, his title in inscriptions being 
crpa-ijybg kol vavapxog kol apxiEpevg 6 Kara rijv vijoov. 

3. In one quarter alone did Ptolemy endeavor to extend 
his African dominion. The flourishing country of the Cy- 
renaica, which lay not far fi-om Egypt upon the west, had 
welcomed Alexander as a delivei"(>r from the power of Persia, 



I'ER. HI., TAUT II.] PTOLEMIES. 265 

Reduction of and bcGii accepted by him into alliance. Ptole- 
andtheLiby^- niy, who covcted its natural wealth, and disliked 
tweeii^Uaifd *^^^ existence of an independent republic in his 
Egypt. neighborhood, found an occasion in the troubles 

which at this time fell upon Cyrene, to establish his authori- 
ty over the whole region. At the same time he must have 
brought under subjection the Libyan tribes of the district 
between Egypt and the Cyrenaiica, Avho in former times had 
been dependent upon the native Egyptian monarchy, and 
had submitted to the Persians when Egypt was conquered 
by Cambyses. 

Details of the Conquest. Invasion of the Cyrenaica by Thimbron with 
a body of mercenaries. He seizes the port of Cyrene and attacks the town, 
15. c. 320, The Cyrenians accept a position of dependence ; but soon after- 
wards revolt, and, while Thimbron is engaged in repelling their attack upon 
his Barcajan allies, they recover their port. Both sides having received re- 
inforcements, a great battle takes place, in which Thimbron is victorious. 
Disturbances follow in Cyrene', and the nobles, being expelled by the people, 
fly to Egypt and persuade Ptolemy to reinstate them; which he does by his 
general, Ophelias, who then subdues the entire region. After remaining sub- 
jects of Egypt for seven years, the Cyrenians revolted, B.C. 313, but were re- 
duced by Ptolemy's general, Agis. After this, however, Ophelias seems to 
have made himself practically independent ; and Egypt might have lost her 
dependency altogether, if his ambition had not prompted him to accept the 
specious proposals of Agathocles, who needed his support against Carthage. 
When Ophelias fell a victim to the treachery of the Sicilian adventurer, b.c. 
308, Ptolemy seized the opportunity, and, once more occupying the country, 
placed it under the government of his son, Magas. 

4. The system of government established by Ptolemy 
Lagi, so far as it can be made out, was the following. The 
Governmeutai monarch was Supreme, and indeed absolute, hav- 
niliuof'nath-e ^"o the sole direction of aifairs and the sole ap- 
Egyptians. pointmcnt of all officers. The changes, however, 
made in the internal administratiou were few. The division 
of the whole country into nomes was maintained ; and most 
of the old nomes were kept, a certain number only being- 
subdivided. Each was ruled by its nomarch, who received 
his appointment from the crown, and might at any time be 
superseded. The nomarchs were frequently, perhaps even 
generally, native Egyptians. They administered in their 
provinces the old Egyptian laws, and maintained the old 
Egyptian religion. It was from first to last a part of the 
established policy of the Lagid monarchs to protect and 

12 



266 MACP:d0NIAN kingdoms. [liooK IV. 

honor the religion of. their subjects, which they regarded as 
closely akin to their own, and of which they ostentatiously 
made themselves the patrons. Ptolemy Lagi began the 
practice of rebuilding and ornamenting the temples of the 
Egyptian gods, and paid particular honor to the supposed 
incarnations of Apis. The old j)rivileges of the priests, and 
especially their exemption from land-tax, were continued ; 
and they were allowed everywhere the utmost freedom in 
the exercise of every rite of their religion. In return for 
these favors the priests were expected to acknoAvledge a 
quasi-divinity in tlie Lagid monarchs, and to perform certain 
ceremonies in their honor, both in their lifetime a^id after 
their decease. 

5. At the same tini(} many exclusive privileges were re- 
served for the conquering race. The tranquillity of the 
„ . ., , country was maintained by a standinsj army 
the Gr^co- composcd almost exclusively of Greeks and Mac- 

Macedouiaus. ^ . t/v? iini ^ f> 

edonians, and omcered wholly by members ol 

the dominant class. This army was located in, comparative- 
ly, a few spots, so that its presence was not much felt by the 
great bulk of the population. As positions of authority in 
the military service were reserved for Grieco-Macedonians, 
so also in the civil service of the country all offices of any 
importance were filled up from the same class. This class, 
moreover, which was found chiefly in a small number of the 
cliief towns, enjoyed full municipal liberty in these places, 
electing its own officeis, and, for the most part, administer- 
ing its own afi:airs without interference on the part of the 
central government. 

Disposition of the Standing Army. Alexander stationed the troops 
Avitli which he garrisoned Egypt at two places only, Pelusium and Memphis ; 
the latter heing the native capital — the Moscow of the Egyptians — and the 
former the key of Egypt on the only side on which it is open to a land at- 
tack. In later times, Ptolemai's in the Thehaid, Elephantine, and Parembolc 
in Nubia were likewise made military stations ; and an important body of 
troops Avas also maintained at Alexandria, where they guarded the person of 
the monarch. 

6. One of the chief peculiarities of the early Lagid king- 
dom — a peculiarity for which it was indebted to its founder 
Encouraj^e- — was its encouragement of literature and sci- 
inrauciici-™" <^"^^- Ptolcmy Lagi was himself an author; 
ence. ^\\d^ alone among the successors of Alexander, 



PER. III., PART II.] PTOLEMIES. 267 

inherited the regard for men of learning and research which 
had distinguished his great patron. Following the example 
of Aristotle, he set himself to collect an extensive library, 
and lodged it in a building connected with the royal palace. 
Men of learning were invited by him to take up their resi- 
dence at Alexandria; and the "Museum" w^as founded, a 
College of Professors, which rapidly drew to it a vast body 
of students, and rendered Alexandria the university of the 
Eastern world. It was too late in the history of the Greek 
race to obtain, by the fostering influence of judicious patron- 
age, the creation of masterpieces ; but exact science, criti- 
cism, and even poetry of an unpretentious kind, were pro- 
duced ; and much excellent literary work was done, to the 
great benefit of the moderns. Euclid, and ApoUonius of 
Perga, in mathematics ; Philetas, Calliraachus, and ApoUoni- 
us of Rhodes, in poetry; Aristophanes of Byzantium, and 
Aristarchus, in criticism ; Eratosthenes in chronology and 
geography ; Hipparchus in astronomical science ; and Mane- 
tho in history — adorned the Lagid period, and sufficiently 
indicate that the Lagid patronage of learning was not un- 
fruitful. Apelles, too, and Antiphilus produced many of 
their best pictures at the Alexandrian court. 

Fcmr lines of study, corresponding to the modern "faculties," were chiefly 
pursued by academical students at Alexandria — viz., Poetry, Mathematics, 
Astronomy, and Medicine, criticism being included under poetry. The 
•'Museum," or university building, comprised chambers for the Professors; 
a common hall where they took their meals together ; a long corridor for 
exercise and ambulatoiy lectures ; a theatre for scholastic festivals and public 
disputations ; a botanical garden ; and a menagerie. It has been well said, 
that the serA^ces rendered by the " Museum" to learning are probably great- 
er than those of any ' ' Academy " in modern Europe. Further details on 
this interesting subject will be found in 

Geier, De Ptolemcei Lagidis vita, et commentariorum fragmentis commen- 
tatio. HaljB Sax., 1838; 4to. 

Hbyne, De Genio sceculi Ptolemceorum, in his Opuscula Academica. Got- 
tingen, 1785-8 ; 3 vols. 8vo. 

Matter, Es$ai historique sur Vecole d'Alexandrie. Paris, 1820 ; 2d edi- 
tion, 1840. 

Parthey, Das Ahxandrinische Museum, Berlin, 1838 ; 8vo. 

7. The character of Ptolemy Lagi was superior to that of 
most of the princes who were his contemporaries. In an 
ciiaracter of age of treachery and violence, he appears to have 
Ptolemy Lagi. j-g^-j-iained faitliful to his engagements, and to have 



268 MACEDONIAN KINGDOMS. [liooK iv. 

been rarely guilty of any bloodshed that was not absolutely 
necessary for his own safety and that of his kingdom. His 
mode of life was simple and unostentatious. He was a brave 
soldier, and never scrupled to incur personal danger. The 
generosity of his temper was evinced by his frequently set- 
ting his prisoners free without ransom. In his domestic re- 
lations he was, however, unhappy. He married two wives, 
Eurydice, the daughter of Antipater, whom he divorced, and 
Berenice, her companion. By Eurydice he had a son, Ptole- 
my Ceraunus, who should naturally have been his successor; 
but Berenice prevailed on him in his old age to prefer her 
son, Philadelphus ; and Ptolemy Ceraunus, offended, became 
an exile from his country, and an intriguer against the in- 
terests of his brother and his other relatives. Enmity and 
bloodshed were thus introduced into the family ; and to that 
was shortly afterwards added the crime of incest, a fatal 
cause of decay and corruption. 

8. Ptolemy Lagi adorned his capital with a number of 
great works. The principal of these were the royal palace, 
His great ^^^^ Muscum, the lofty Pharos, upon the island 
works. which formed the port, the mole or causeway, 
nearly a mile in length (Heptastadium), which connected 
this island with the shore, the Soma or mausoleum, coytain- 
ing the body of Alexander, the temple of Serapis (completed 
by his son, Philadelphus), and the Hippodrome or great race- 
course. He likewise rebuilt the inner chamber of the grand 
temple at Karnak, and probably repaired many other Egyp- 

. tian buildings. After a reign of forty years, hav- 

ing attained to the advanced age of eighty-four, 
he died in Alexandria, b.c. 283, leaving his crown to his son, 
Philadelphus, the eldest of his children by Berenice, whom 
he had already two years before associated with him in the 
kingdom. 

The nomination of Philadelphus by Ptolemy Lagi has been paralleled with 
that of Xerxes by Darius, and supposed to have rested on the same right 
(Niebuhr) ; but, practically, the 7-eign of the Egyptian monai-ch had com- 
menced before his marriage with Eurydice. The real resemblance is that 
in both cases the younger son owed his advancement to the influence of his 
mother over a father already in his dotage. 

9. Ptolemy H., surnamed Philadelphus, was born at Cos, 
B.C. 309, and was consequently twenty-six years of age at the 



PER. III., lAUT II.] PTOLEMIES. 269 

Reign of Ptoi- Commencement of his sole reign. lie inherited 
ShusM c^ ^^^* father's love for literature and genius for ad- 
283-247. ministration, but not his military capacity. Still, 

lie did not abstain altogether even from aggressive wars, but 
had an eye to the events which were passmg in other coun- 
tries, and souglit to maintain by his arms the balance of 
power established in his father's lifetime. His chief wars 
were with the rebel king of Cyrene, his half-brother, Magas ; 
with Antiochus I. and Antiochus II., kini^s of 
Syria ; and with Antigonus Gonatas, king of 
Macedon. They occupied the space of about twenty years, 
from B.C. 269 to 249. Philadelphus was fairly successful in 
them, excepting tliat he was forced, as the result of his 
struggle with Magas, to acknowledge the independence of 
that monarch. 

Details of these Wars, (a) Macedonian War: — As early as b.c. 
2G9 Philadelphus seems to have sent aid to the Spartan king, Areus, Avho 
was threatened by Antigonus. Shortly afterwards he dispatched a fleet un- 
der Patroclus to assist and protect the Athenians, b.c. 247 (?). In b.c. 251 
he gave pecuniary help to Aratus when that patriot first formed the project 
of raising up a counterpoise to Macedon in the famous "Achrean League." 
Some years later he became an actual ally of the League. (6) Cvren^an 
and Syrian Wars : — These two wars were closely connected. It is imcer- 
tain in what year Magas asserted his independence, but in b.c. 266, not con- 
tent with the kingdom of Cyrene', he marched against Egypt, attacked and 
took Paroetonium, and Avas proceeding farther eastward when a revolt of the 
Marmarida?, a native African tribe, recalled him. Two years later, b.c, 264, 
having made a treaty Avith Antiochus I. (whose daughter, Apame, Avas his 
Avife), he undertook a second expedition, and once more occujjied Parreto- 
nium. Philadelphus, however, found means to frustrate the efforts of both 
his antagonists. Antiochus was kept employed at home, and Magas Avith- 
out his ally was unable to make any progress. After a Avhile a partial peace 
Avas made. Magas aa^is recognized as independent monarch of the Cyre- 
naica, and his daughter, Berenice, Avas betrothed to the eldest son of Phila- 
delphus, Ptolemy (Euergetes), b.c. 2a9. Hostilities continued Avith Syria, 
where Antiochus II. had succeeded his father; but in b.c. 249 this AA'ar also 
Avas terminated by a marriage, Antiochus receiving the hand of Berenice, 
Pliiladelphus's daughter. It Avas probably during the Syrian War that Phil- 
adelphus possessed himself of the coast, at any rate, of Caria, Lycia, Pam- 

phylia, and Cilicia, and also of many of the Cyclades. 

• 

10. The home administration of Ptolemy Philadelphus 
was in all respects eminently successful. To him belongs 
the credit of developing to their fullest extent the commer- 
cial advantages which the position of Egypt throws open 



270 MACEDONIAN KINGDOMS. [liooic iv. 

,,. , , to lier, and of brinojincr by these means lier ma- 

Ihs home acl- ' . *.•',.. 

imuisiration. teiial prosperity to Its culmmatmg ponit. By 
liieiitofcom- reopening the canal unitmg the Red Sea with the 
ineice. -j^j|^ — ^ construction of the greatest of the Rames- 

side kings (see p. 85) — and building the port of Arsinoe on 
the site of the modern Suez, he united the East and West, 
allowinfr the merchandise of either recjion to reach the other 
by water carriage. As this, however, owing to the dangers 
of the Red Sea navigation, was not enough, he constructed 
two other harbors, and founded two other cities, each called 
Berenice, on the eastern African coast, one nearly in lat. 
24°, the other still farther to the south, probably about lat. 
13°. A high-road was opened from the northern Berenice 
to Coptos on the Nile (near Thebes), and the merchandise 
of India, Arabia, and Ethiopia flowed to Europe for several 
centuries chiefly by this route. The Ethiopian trade was 
particularly valuable. Not only Avas ivory imported large- 
ly from this region, but the elephant was hunted on a large 
scale, and the hunters' captures were brought alive into 
Egypt, where they were used in the military service. Ptol- 
emais, in lat. 18° 40', was the emporium for this traflic. 

Other steps taken by Philadelplius with a view to the extension or security 
of commerce were, (1) his suppression of the banditti which infested Upper 
Egypt at the veiy outset of his reign ; (2) his exploration of the western or 
Arabian coast of the Red Sea, by means of a naval expedition under Sfity- 
rus ; and (3) his dispatch of an ambassador named Dionysius to India, on a 
mission to the native princes. 

On the trade of Alexandria see the treatise of De Schmidt, Ojmscula qui- 
hus res antiquce precipue ^gyptiacce explanantur. Carolsruh., 1765; 8vo. 

11. The material prosperity of Egypt which these meas- 
ures insured Avas naturally accompanied by a flourishing 

condition of the revenue. Philadelphus is said 

Revenue. . ■^ • ■^ n -r^ ^ ' t 

to have derived irom Egypt alone, without count- 
ing the tribute in grain, an annual income of 14,800 talents 
(more than three and a half millions sterling), or as much as 
Darius Hystaspis obtained from the whole of his vast em- 
pire. The revenue was raised chiefly from customs, but was 
supplemented from other sources. The remoter provinces, 
Palestine, PhcEnicia, Cyprus, etc., seem to have paid a trib- 
ute ; but of the mode of its assessment we know nothing. 

12. The military force which Philadelphus maintained is 



I'EK. III., I'AKT II.] PTOLEMIES. 27; 

said to have amoiuited to 200,000 foot and 40,000 horse, 
Land and sea hesides elephants and war-chariots. He had also 
forces. ^ -Qgg^ q£ J5QQ yessels, many of which were of ex- 

traordinary size. The number of rowers required to man 
these vessels must have exceeded, rather than fallen short 
of, 600,000 men. 

13. The fame of Pliiladelphus depends, however, far less 
upon his military exploits, or his talents for organization 
Patronage of ^^^ administration, than uj^on his efforts in the 
learniug. cause of learning. In this respect, if in no other, 
he surpassed his father, and deserves to be regarded as the 
special cause of the literary glories of his country. The li- 
brary which the first Ptolemy had founded was by the sec- 
ond so largely increased that he has often been regarded as 
its author. The minor library of the Serapeium was entire- 
ly of his collection. Learned men were invited to his court 
from every quarter; and literary Avorks of the highest value 
were undertaken at his desire or under his patronage. 
Among these the most important were the translation of 
the Hebrew Scriptures into the Greek language (which was 
commenced in his reign and continued under several of his 
successors), and the "History of Egypt," derived from the 
native records, which was composed in Greek during his 
reign by the Egyptian priest Manetho. Philadelphus also 
patronized painting and sculpture, and adorned his capital 
with architectural works of great magnificence. 

Among the galaxy of literary and scientific names which adoniecl the court 
of Philadelphus the most remarkable are the poets Theocritus and Cal- 
LiMACHUs, Zenodotus the grammarian, Euclid, the philosophers Hegesi- 
AS and Theodorus, and the astronomers Timocharis, Aristarchus of Sa- 
mos, and Aratus. Of these, first Zenodotus, and then Callimachus held 
the office of Librarian. 

On the subject of the Alexandrian Library, or Libraries, the student may 
consult with advantage 

Beck, Specimen historice, hihliothccaruin Alexandrinarum. Lipsife, 1810; 
4to. 

Dedel, G., Historia critica hibliotliecce Alexandrince. Lugd. Bat. 1823; 
4to. 

RiTSCiiEL, Die Alexandrinischen Bihliotheken unter der ersten Ptolemdern. 
Breslau, 1838 ; 8vo. 

14. In his personal character, Philadelphus presents an 
unfavorable contrast to his father. Immediately upon at- 



272 MACEDONIAN KINGDOMS. [book iv. 

taining the tlirone he banished Demetrius Pha- 
Phiiadeiphus. lerciis, foi" the sole offense that he had- advised 
His death. Ptolemy Lagi against altering the succession. 
Shortly afterwards he put to death two of his brothers. He 
divorced his first wife Arsinoe, the daughter of Lysimachus, 
and banished her to Coptos in Upper Egypt, in order that 
he might contract an incestuous marriage with his full sis- 
ter, Arsinoe, who had been already married to his half-broth- 
er Ceraunus. To this princess, who bore him no children, he 
continued tenderly attached, taking in reference to her the 
epithet " Philadelphus," and honoring her by giving her 
name to several of the cities which he built, and erecting to 
her memory a magnificent monument at Alexandria, which 
was known as the Arsinoeum. Nor did he long survive her 
decease. He died in b.c. 247, of disease, at Alexandria, hav- 
ing lived sixty-two years, and reigned thirty-eight, or thirty- 
six from the death of his father. 

The gold coins of Philadelphus and his wife Arsinoe are numerous, and 
exceedingly beautiful. 

15. Ptolemy HI., surnamed Euergetes (" the Benefjxctor "), 
the eldest son of Philadelphus by his first wife, succeeded 
Eeign ofPtoi- him. This prince was the most enterprising of all 
e^SS iS" the Lagid moiiarchs ; and under him Egypt, which 
wars mid coil- ^^^ hitherto maintained a defensive attitude, be- 
quests, came an aggressive power, and accomiDlished im- 
portant conquests. The greater part of these were, it is true, 
retained for only a few years; but others were more perma- 
nent, and be(!ame real additions to the empire. The empire 
obtained now its greatest extension, comprising, besides 
Egypt and Nubia, the Cyrenaica, which was recovered by 
the marriage of Berenice, daughter and heiress of Magas, to 
Euergetes; parts of Ethiopia, especially the tract about 
Adule ; a portion of the opposite or western coast of Arabia ; 
Palestine, Phoenicia, and Ccele-Syria ; Cyprus, Cilicia, Pam- 
phylia, Lycia, Caria, and Ionia ; the Cyclades ; and a por- 
tion of Thrace, including the city of Lysimacheia in the 
Chersonese. 

Wars or Euergetes. (a) With Syria. First War. The wrongs of his 
sister, Berenice, who was first divorced by Antiochus, and then murdered by 
Laodice, with the consent of Seleucus Calliiiicus (see p. 252), provoked Euer- 
getes to invade Syria, b.c. 245. Having taken Antioch, he crossed the Er • 



PEK. III., TAUT II.] PTOLEMIES. 273 

phrates and reduced Mesopotamia, Babylonia, Susiana, Media, and Persia. 
The Eastern provinces to the borders of Bactria submitted to him. At the 
same time, his fleet ravaged the coasts of Asia Minor and Thrace, reducing 
all the maritime tracts to subjection. Eecalled to Egypt by a threatening of 
troubles, about B.C. 243, he rapidly lost his Eastern conquests, which Avere re- 
covered*by Seleucus ; but those in Asia Minor and in Europe, which de- 
pended on his command of the sea, continued subject to him. The first war 
was terminated, B.C. 241, by a truce for ten years, after it had raged for four 
years over almost the whole of Western Asia. — Second War. A quarrel 
having broken out between Seleucus and his brother, Antiochus Hierax, Eu- 
ergetes sided with the latter^ After numerous alternations, success rested 
Avith Seleucus ; and Antiochus fled to Egypt, where Ptolemy kept him a pris- 
oner. At the same time he made peace with Seleucus, b.c. 229. (b) War 
with Macedonia. Euergetes followed his father's policy in this quarter, sitp- 
porting Aratus and the Achaean league until they came to terms Avith Antig- 
onus, and then supporting Cleomenes of Sparta against the confederates. 
In the course of the struggle, his admirals engaged the fleet of Antigonus off 
Andros, and completely defeated it. (c) War with Ethiopia. ToAvards the 
close of his reign, Euergetes turned his arms against his southern neighbors, 
and made himself master of the coast about Adule, Avhere he set up his fa- 
mous inscription. (Seep. 2i31.) 

16. Friendly relations had been established with Rome by- 
Ptolemy Philadelphus, as early as b.c. 273. Euergetes con- 
HeiationsAvith tinned this policy, but declined the assistance 
Eome. whicili the great republic was anxious to lend 
him in his Syrian wars. It would seem that the ambitious 
projects of Rome and her aspirations after universal domin- 
ion were already, at the least, suspected. 

17. Like his father and grandfather, Euergetes was a patron 
of art and letters. He added largely to the great library at 
Patroua?eof Alexandria, collecting the best manuscripts from 
learning. ^|^ quarters, sometimes by very questionable means. 
The poet, Apollonius Rhodius, the geographer and chronol- 
ogist, Eratosthenes, and the grammarian, Aristophanes of 
Byzantium, adorned his court. Alexandria does not seem to 
have owed to him many of her buildings ; but he gratified 
his Egyptian subjects by important architectural Avorks, as 
well as by the restoration of various images of their gods, 
which he had recovered in his Eastern expedition. 

Large additions Avere made by Euergetes to the great temple at Thebes. 
He also erected an entirely neAv one at Esne ; and dedicated one to Osiris at 
Canopus in the name of himself and his Avife, Berenice'. 

18. After a reign of twenty-five years, during which he 
had enjoyed almost uninterrupted success, and had raised 

12* 



274 MACEDONIAN KINGDOMS. [book iv. 

, ,^ , Eoy])t to perhaps the hiohest pitch of prosperity 
DeathofPtol- ^^-^ ^ . ^ L • -, t^ f t t t 

emyEuerge- that she ever attamed, Jiiiero-etes died, according 

*^^' to the best authority, by a natural death ; though 

there were not wanting persons to ascribe his decease to the 
machinations of his son. He left behind him three children 
— Ptolemy, who succeeded him, Magas, and Arsinoe, who be- 
came the wife of her elder brother. 

19. The glorious period of the Macedo-Egyptian history 
terminates with Euergetes. Three ^ings of remarkable tal- 
Termination Gut, and of moderately good moral character, had 
pL-Kf La^* held the throne for a little more than a century 
gid history. (101 years), and had rendered Egypt the most 
flourishing of the kingdoms which had arisen out of the 
disruption of Alexander's empire. They were followed by a 
succession of wicked and incapable monarchs, among whom 
it is difficult to find one who has any claim to our respect or 
esteem. Historians reckon nine Ptolemies after Euergetes. 
Except Philometor, who was mild and humane, Lathyrus, 
who was amiable but weak, and Ptolemy XH. (sometimes 
called Dionysus), who was merely young and incompetent, 
they were all, almost equally, detestable. 

20. Ptolemy lY., who assumed the title of Philopator to 
disarm the suspicions which ascribed to him the death of his 
Reign of Ptoi- father, was the eldest son of Euergetes, and as- 
SS,^bS." cended the throne b.c. 222. His first acts, after 
222-205. seating himself upon the throne, were the murder 
of his mother, Berenice, who had wished her younger son to 
obtain the succession ; of his brother, Magas ; and of his fa- 
ther's brother, Lysimachus. He followed up these outrages 
His weikness ^^ quarrelling with the SjDartan refugee Cleom- 
anci debaucii- eucs, and drivius^ him into a revolt, which cost 

ery 50 7 

[ him and his family their lives. He then con- 

tracted an incestuous marriage with his sister, Arsinoe, and 
abandoning the direction of affairs to his minister, Sosibius, 
the adviser of these measures, gave himself up to a life of 
intemperance and profligacy. Agathoclea, a professional 
singer, and her brother, Agathocles, the children of a famous 
courtesan, became his fiworites, and ruled the court, while 
Sosibius managed the kingdom. To gratify these minions 
of his pleasures, Philopator, about b.c. 208, put to death his 
wife, Arsinoe, after she had borne him an heir to the empire. 



PER. III., TART II.] PTOLEMIES. 275 

21. The weakness of Philopator, and the mismanagement 
of the State by Sosibins, who was at once incapable and 
War of Phi- wicked, laid the empire open to attack; and it 
Affi?chus the was not long before the young king of Syria, An- 
Gieat. tiochus III., took advantage of the condition of 
affairs to advance his own pretensions to the possession of 
the long-disputed tract between Syria Proper and Egypt. 
It might have been expected that, under the circumstances, 
he would have been successful. But the Egyptian forces, 
relaxed though their discipline had been by Sosibius, Avere 
still superior to the Syrians ; and the battle of Raphia (b.c. 
217) was a repetition of the lessons taught at Pelusium and 
Gaza. The invader was once more defeated upon the bor- 
ders, and by the peace which followed, the losses of the two 
preceding years were, with one exception, recovered. 

Details of the War. Antiochus commenced, b.c. 219, by besieging 
Seleuceia, the port of Antioch, which had remained in the hands of the 
Egyptians since the great invasion of Euergetes. Being joined by Theodo- 
tus, the Egyptian governor of Coele'-Syria, he invaded that comitry, took 
Tyre and Ptolemais (Acre), and advanced to the frontiers of Egypt. The 
next year, b.c. 218, an Egyptian army under Nicolaiis was sent to oppose 
him ; but this force was completely defeated near Porphyreon. In the third 
year of the war, b.c. 217, Philopator marched out from Alexandria in per- 
son, with 70,000 foot, 5000 horse, and 73 elephants. Antiochus advanced 
to give him battle, and the two armies met at Raphia, on the eastern edge of 
the desert. After a vain attempt on the part of Theodotus to assassinate 
Philopator in his camp, an engagement took place, and Antiochus was com- 
pletely defeated. He then made peace, relinquishing all his conquests but 
Seleuceia. 

22. The Syrian war was only just brought to a close 
when disaffection showed itself among Philopator's Egyp- 
Revoitofthe *^^^^ subjects. The causes of their discontent are 
native Egyp- obscure ; and we are without any details as to 

the course of the struggle. But there is evidence 
that it lasted through a considerable number of years, and 
was only brought to a close after much effusion of blood on 
both sides. 

23. Notwithstanding his inhumanity and addiction to the 
worst forms of vice, Philopator so far observed the traditions 
Philopator's ^^ ^^^^ house as to continue their patronage of let- 
patronage of ters. He lived on familiar terms with the men 

of learning who frequented his court, and espe- 



276 MACEDONIAN KINGDOMS. [book iv. 

cially distinguished with his favor the grammarian Aristar- 
chus. To show his admiration for Homer, he dedicated a 
temple to him. He further even engaged, himself, in literary 
13ursuits, composing tragedies and poems of various kinds. 

24. Worn out prematurely by his excesses, Philopator 
died at about the age of forty, after he had held the throne 
His death. for Seventeen years. He left behind him one 
emy v°(Epi° ' Only child, a SOU, named Ptolemy, the issue of his 
205-181?' 'lie- marriage with Arsinoe. This child, who at the 
geucyofAga- time of his father's death was no more than five 

thocles— of . T , 1 ITT 

Tiepoiemiis. years old, was immediately acknowledged as 
king. He reigned from n.c. 205 to 181, and is distinguished 
in history by the surname of Epiphanes. The affairs of 
Egypt during his minority were, at first, administered by 
the infamous Agathocles, who, however, soon fell a victim to 
the popular fury, together with his sister, his mother, and 
his whole family. The honest but incompetent Tlepolemus 
succeeded as regent ; but in the critical circumstances 
Avherein Egypt was now placed by the league of Antiochus 
with Philip of Macedon (see Book IV., § 13), it was felt that 
incompetency would be fatal ; and the important step was 
taken of calling in the assistance of the Romans^ who sent 
M. Lepidus, b.c. 201, to undertake the management of affairs. 
Keo-ency of Lcpidus savcd Egypt from conquest ; but was 
Lepidus. unable, or unwilling, to obtain for her the restora- 

tion of the territory whereof the two spoilers had deprived 
her by their combined attack. Antiochus succeeded in first 
deferring and then evading the restoration of his share of 
the spoil, while Philip did not even make a pretense of giv- 
ing back a single foot of territory. Thus Egypt lost in this 
reign the whole of her foreign possessions except Cyprus 
and the Cyrenaica — losses which were never recovered. 

For the details of the Avar between Epiphanes and his assailants, see Book 
IV., Per. III., Part I., § 13, and Per. III., Part III., § 25. 

25. Lepidus, on quitting Egypt, e.g. 199, handed over the 
administration to Aristoraenes, the Acarnanian, a man of 
Regency of vigor and probity, who restored the finances, and 
Arfsiomenes. p^^^ f^.^gi^ Ijf^, ^^^^ ^^^q administration. But the 
external were followed by internal troubles. A revolt of 
the Egyptians, and a conspiracy on the part of the general, 
Scopas, showed the danger of a long minority, and induced 



PER. III., PART II.] PTOLEMIES. 277 

the new regent to curtail his own term of office. At tlie 
age of fourteen, Epiphanes was declared of full age, and as- 
sumed the reins of government, b.c. 196. 

To this occasion belongs the famous "Rosetta stone," which contains n 
decree of the priests at the time of the coronation of Epiphanes, establishing 
the manner in which he was to be worshipped tlienceforth in all the temples. 
Incidentally, there is an enumeration of all the benefits supposed to have been 
conferred by the monarch during his minority, which throws some light on 
the internal administration of Egypt, and also on tlie events of the earlier 
portion of Epiphanes's reign. 

26. But little is known of Ej^ij^hanes from the time of 
his assuming the government. His marriage with Cleopa- 

, . tra, the daughter of Antiochus the Great, which 

Actual reign ,' * ,. ,^^ ^-i^^i 

of Epiphaues, had been arranged m b.c. 199 as a portion oi tne 
B.C. 196-181. ^^^^^^^^ ^^, ^^^^^^^ ^^g ^^^^ celebrated till b.c. 193, 

when he had attained the age of seventeen. Shortly after 
this the monarch appears to have quarrelled with his minis- 
ter and late guardian, Aristomenes, whom he barbarously- 
removed by poison. A certain Polycrates then became his 
chief adviser, and assisted him to quell a second very seri- 
ous revolt on the part of the native Egyptians. Towards 
the close of his reign he formed designs for the recovery of 
Coele-Syria and Palestine, which he proposed to wrest from 
Seleucus, who had succeeded his father, Antiochus. But be- 
fore he could carry his designs into eifect, he Avas murdered 
by his officers, whom he had alarmed by an unguarded ex- 
pression, B.C. 181. 

27. By his marriage with Cleopatra, Epiphanes had be- 
come the father of three children, two sons, both of whom 
Eei-n of Ptoi- received the name of Ptolemy, and a daughter, 
StIr),^B.a^' called after her mother. The eldest of these 
181-14G.' • children, who took the surname of Philometor, 
succeeded him,* and reigned as Ptolemy VI. His age at 
his accession was only seven, and during his early years he 
remained under the regency of his mother, whose adminis- 
tration was vigorous and successful. At her death, in b.c 
173, the young prince fell under far inferior guardianship— 
that of Eulseus the eunuch and Lenjeus, ministers at once 

* Lepsius interposes at this point a Ptolemy Eupator, Avhom he calls Ptol- 
emy VI. His relationship to the kings who precede and follow him is not 
apparent. 



278 MACEDONIAN KINGDOMS. [p.ook iv, 

corrupt and incapable. These weak men, mistaking audac- 
ity for vigor, rashly claimed from Antiochus Epiphanes the 
surrender of Coele-Syria and Palestine, the nominal dowry 
of tlie late queen-mother, and, when their demand was con- 
temptuously rejected, flew to arms. Their invasion of Syria 
His Syrian qnickly brought upon them the vengeance of An- 
w^^- tiochus, who defeated their forces at Pelusium, b.c. 

1 70, and would certainly have conquered all Egypt, had it 
not been for the interposition of the Romans, who made him 
retire, and even deprived him of all his conquests. 

DioTAiLS OF THE War WITH Antiociius. After his Yictory at Pelusium, 
Antiochus advanced to Memphis, and having obtained possession of the young 
king's person, endeavored to use him as his tool for effecting the entire re- 
duction of the country. But the Alexandrians set up Philometor's brother, 
Ptolemy Ph3'scon, as king, and successfully defended their city, till Antiochus 
raised the siege. Threatened by the Romans, he evacuated Egypt, except 
Pelusium, leaf^ing Philometor as king at Mempliis. But Philometor now 
refused to be a tool any more. Having come to terms with Physcon, b.c. 
169, agreeing to reign jointly with him, and having married his sister, Cleo- 
patra, lie re-entered Alexandria and prepared for war. Antiochus, upon this, 
invaded Egypt a second time, while he also dispatched an expedition against 
Cyprus, B.C. 1G8, and was completely successful in both places. Cyprus was 
conquered, and Alexandria would undoubtedly have fallen, had not the Ro- 
mans interposed. Popillius ordered the conqueror to retire from Egypt, and 
to restore Cyprus to the Egyptians ; and Antiochus, though with extreme re- 
luctance, obeyed both commands, B.C. 1G8. 

28. By the timely aid thus given, Rome was brought into 
a new position with respect to Egypt. Hitherto she had 

merely been a friendly ally, receiving^ more fa- 

JN^GW rGifltlOllS •/•/•' CI? 

betweeuRome vors than slic Conferred. Henceforth she was 
'gyp- viewed as exercising a sort of protectorate ; and 
her right was recognized to interfere in the internal troubles 
of the kingdom, and to act as arbiter between rival princes. 
The claims of such persons were discussed before the* Roman 
Senate, and the princes themselves went to Rome in person 
to plead their cause. The decision of the Senate was not, 
indeed, always implicitly obeyed ; but still Rome exercised 
a most important influence from this time, not only over 
the external policy but over the dynastic squabbles of the 
Egyptians. 

29. The joint reign of the two kings, Philometor and 
Physcon, which commenced in b.c. 169, continued till b.c. 
165, when the brothers quarrelled and Philometor was driven 



PER. III., TART II.] PTOLEMIES. ^ 279 

WarofPhiio- ^^^^^ Gxile. Having gone to Rome and implored 
metor with his assistance fi'oni the Senate, he was re-instated 
cou, B.C. 1G4- in his kingdom by Roman deputies, who arranged 
^^'^' a partition of the territory between the broth- 

ers, which might have closed the dispute, could Physcon 
have remained contented with his allotted portion. But his 
ambition and intrigues caused fresh troubles, which were, 
however, quelled after a time by the final establishment of 
Physcon as king of Cyrene only. 

At the division of territory made inU.c. 164, Physcon received Cyrene and 
Libya. Discontented with this allotment, he went to Rome in the next year, 
and obtained the further grant of Cyprus, which Philometor was expected to 
give up. lie, however, refused ; and Physcon was preparing to go to war 
when Cyrene revolted and engaged his attention for some considerable time. 
In B.C. 154: he went for the second time to Rome, and received a squadron of 
five ships, to help him to obtain Cyprus. With these he proceeded to the 
island and endeavored to conquer it, but was defeated and mt^e prisoner by 
his brother, who, however, not only spared his life, but re-estabhshed him as 
king of Cyrene. 

30. During the continuance of the war between the two 
brothers, Demetrius L, who had become king of Syria, b.c. 
Wars of Phil- 162, had made an attempt to obtain possession of 
D™metduf I. Cyprus by bribing the governor, and had thereby 
de?Btlt?To pi*<^voked the hostility of Philometor. No soon- 
151-146. ' er, therefore, was Philometor free from domestic 
troubles than, resolving to revenge himself, he induced Al- 
exander Balas to come forward as a pretender to the Syrian 
crown, and lent him the full weight of his support, even giv- 
ing him his daughter, Cleopatra, in marriage, b.c. 150. But 
the ingratitude of Balas, after he had obtained the throne by 
Ptolemy's aid, alienated his patron. The Egyptian king, 
having with some difficulty escaped a treacherous attempt 
upon his life, passed over to the side of the younger Deme- 
trius, gave Cleopatra in marriage to him, and succeeded in 
seating him upon the throne. In the last battle, however, 
which was fought near Antioch, he was thrown from his 
horse, and lost his life, b.c. 146. 

31. Ptolemy Philometor left behind him three children, the 
issue of his marriage with his full sister, Cleopatra, viz., a son, 
Brief reign of Ptolemy, wlio was proclaimed king, under the 
^Jiemy VII. name of Eupator (or Philopator, according to Lep- 

sius), and two daughters, both called Cleopatra, 



280 . MACEDONIAN KINGDOMS. [book iv. 

the elder mamed first to Alexander Balas and then to De- 
metrius II., the younger still a virgin. Eupator, after reign- 
ing a few days, was deposed and then murdered by his uncle, 
Physcon, the king of Cyrene, who claimed and obtained the 
throne. 

32. Ptolemy Physcon, called also Euergetes II., acquired 
the throne in consequence of an arrangement mediated by 
Rei^nofPtoi- ^^^ Romans, who stipulated that he should marry 
emy VIII his sistcr Cleopatra, the widow of his brother, 
]{.o. 146-117. Philometor. Having become king in this way, 

IS crue ties, j^-^ g^.^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^j^^ murder of his nephew. (See 

the last section.) He then ]3roceeded to treat with the ut- 
most severity all those who had taken part against him in 
the recent contest, killing some and banishing others. By 
these measures he created such alarm, that Alexandria be- 
came half emptied of its inhabitants, and he was forced to 
invite new colonists to repeople it. Meanwhile he gave him- 
self up to gluttony and other vices, and became bloated to 
an extraordinary degree, and so corpulent that he could 
scarcely walk. He further repudiated Cleopatra, his sister, 
though she had borne him a son, Memphitis, and took to wife 
her daughter, called also Cleopatra, the child of his brother, 
Philometor. After a while his cruelties and excesses dis- 
His flight to gusted the Alexandrians, who broke out into fre- 
Cyprus. quent revolts. Several of these were put down ; 

but at last Physcon was compelled to fly to Cyprus, and his 
sister Cleopatra was made queen, b.c. 130. 

War followed for three years between the brother and sister. The murder 
of Memphitis, his own son, in order to grieA'e the mother, and the barbarous 
act of sending her the head and hands of his victim, so exasperated the Alex- 
andrians that at first they supported the cause of Cleopatra with spirit. But 
her imprudent application for aid to Demetrius II. alarmed their patriotism, 
and induced them to recall Physcon, B.C. 127. Cleopatra took refuge in 
Syria. 

33. On the re-establishment of Physcon in his kingdom, he 
resolved to revenge himself on Demetrius for the support 
Re-establish- which he had given to Cleopatra. He therefore 
^n^fn'^bir^^^' ll^i'ought forward the pretender Alexander Zabi- 
kingdom. ^as, and lent him such support that he shortly 
became king of Syria, b.c. 126. But Zabinas, like his reputed 
father, Balas, proved ungrateful ; and the offended Physcon 



PER. III., PART II.] PTOLEMIES. 281 

proceeded to pull down the throne which he had erected, 
joining Antiochus Grypus against Zabinas, and giving him 
his daughter, Tryphsena, in marriage. The result was the 
ruin of Zabinas, and the peaceful establishment of Grypus, 
with whom Physcon lived on friendly terms during the re- 
mainder of his life. 

The expulsion of Phj^con from his kingdom seems to have taught him a 
lesson. No cruelties are recorded of him in the later portion of his reign- 
It Avas probably at this time that he showed himself a patron of letters, and 
composed the works which gave him some repute as an author. 

34. Physcon died in B.C. 117, and was succeeded by his 
eldest son, Ptolemy IX., commonly distinguished by the epi- 
ReignofPtoi- thct of Lathyrus. Egypt now lost the Cyrena'i- 
thfiS^i^G^' c^> which was bequeathed by Physcon to his 
117-81.' natural son, Apion, who at his death made it 

over to the Romans. The ties which bound Cyprus to 
Egypt also became relaxed, for Lathyrus, and his brother, 
Alexander, alternately held it, almost as a separate kingdom. 
The reign of Lathyrus, which commenced b.c. 11 7,* did not* 
terminate till b.c. 81, thus covering a space of thirty-six 
years ; but during one-half of this time he w^as a fugitive 
from Egypt, ruling only over Cyprus, while his brother took 
his place at Alexandria. We must divide his reign into 
three periods — the first lasting from b.c. 117 to 
Three periods, -^q^^ a space of ten years, during which he was 
nominal king of Egypt under the tutelage of his mother ; the 
second, from b.c. 107 to 89, eighteen years, which he spent 
in Cyprus ; and the third, from b.c. 89 to 81, eight years, 
during which he ruled Egypt as actual and sole monarch. 

Details of this Reign.— Eirst Period. Lathyrus, recalled from Cy- 
prus, is forced to divorce his sister, Cleopatra, and to marry his other sister, 
Selene, who is more devoted to the interests of the queen-mother. He niles 
quietly, his mother having the real power, and his brother Alexander reign- 
ing in Cypras, till b.c. 107, when, having ofiended his mother by pursuing a 
policy adverse to hers in Syria, he is driven out, and has to change places 
with Alexander. — Second Period. Lathyrus not only maintains himself 
as king of Cyprus against the attempts of his mother to dispossess him, but 
takes a part in the Syrian troubles, opposing the power of the Jews, and sup- 
porting Antiochus Cyzicenus and his son Demetrius. Meanwhile Cleopatra 

.^ and Ptolemy Alexander rule Egypt conjointly, until at last 

patSandpfol" they also quarrel; Alexander, fearing his mother's designs, 
emy X. (Alex- puts her to death ; and, the Alexandrians rising against him, 
anaer .)• ^^ j^ expelled, and Lathyrus summoned from Cyprus to resume 



282 MACEDONIAN KINGDOMS. [book iv. 

the sovereignty. — Third Period. Lathyrus defeats an attempt of Alexan- 
der to re-establish himself at Cyprus. Death of Alexander. Revolt and 
three years' siege of Thebes in Upper Egypt, terminates in its capture and 
ruin, B.C. 86. Lathyras then reigns quietly till B.C. 81. 

35. Lathyrus left behind him one legitimate child only, 
Berenice, his daughter by Selene, who succeeded him upon 

the throne, and remained for six months sole 

Reigns of Ber- -, \i i • t i f 

eniceandPtoi- monarch, fehc was then married to her nrst 
exanderii.)', cousin, Ptolcmy Alexander II., the son of Ptol- 
^•^•^^- emy Alexander I., who claimed the crown of 

Egypt under the patronage of the great Sulla. It was 
agreed that they should reign conjointly ; but within three 
weeks of his marriage, Alexander put his wife to death. 
This act so enraged the Alexandrians that they rose in re- 
volt against the murderer and slew him in the public gym- 
nasium, B.C. 80. 

36. A time of trouble followed. The succession was dis- 
puted between two illegitimate sons of Lathyrus, two legiti- 
Timeofcont mate SOUS of Selene, the sister of Lathyrus, by 
fusiou. Antiochus Eusebes, king of Syria, her third hus- 
band, and probably other claimants. Roman influence was 
wanted to decide the contest, and Rome for some reason or 
other hung back. A further disintegration of the empire 
was the consequence. The younger of the two sons of Ptol- 
emy Lathyrus seized Cyprus, and made it a separate king- 
dom. The elder seems to have possessed himself of a part 
of Egypt. Other parts of Egypt appear to have fallen into 
the power of a certain Alexander, called by some writers 
Ptolemy Alexander III., who was driven out after some 
years, and, flying to Tyre, died there and bequeathed Egypt 
to the Romans. 

37. Ultimately the whole of Egypt passed under the 
sway of the elder of the two illegitimate sons of Lathyrus, 
Reign of ptoi- who took the titles of JVeos Dioiiysos (" the New 
feTeCj "c.^si- Bacchus "), Philopator, and Philadelphus, but was 
^^- most commonly known as Auletes, the " Flute- 
player." The years of his reign were counted from b.c. 80, 
though he can scarcely have become king of all Egypt till 
fifteen years later, b.c. 65. It was his great object during 
the earlier portion of his reign to get himself acknowledged 
by the Romans; but this he was not able to eflect till b.c. 



PER. III., PART II.] PTOLEMIES. 283 

59, the year of Csesar's consulship, when his bribes were ef- 
fectual. But his orgies and his " fluting " had by this time 
disgusted the Alexandrians ; so that, when he increased the 
wefght of taxation in order to replenish his treasury, ex- 
hausted by the vast sums he had spent in bribery, they rose 
against liim, and, after a short struggle, drove him froni his 
khio-dom. Auletes fled to Rome ; and the Alexandrians 
placed upon the throne his two daughters, Tryphsena and 
Berenice, of whom the former lived only a year, while the 
latter retained the crown till the restoration of her father, 
B.C. 55. He returned under the protection of Pompey, who 
sent Gabinius at the head of a strong Roman force to rein- 
state him. The Alexandrians were compelled to submit; 
and Auletes immediately executed Berenice, who had en- 
deavored to retain the crown and had resisted his return in 
arms. Auletes then reigned about three years and a half 
in tolerable peace, under the protection of a Roman garri- 
son. He died b.c. 51, having done as much as in him lay 
to degrade and ruin his country. 

The chronological difficulties of the period between the deaths of Lathyrus 
and Auletes have been treated with great skill by Clinton in his Fasti Hel- 
lenici, vol. iii., Appendix, chap. 5, § 8, 9. A somewhat different view is taken 
by BoECKH {Corp. Ins. Grcec, vol. iii. p. 288). 

38. Ptolemy Auletes left behind him four children— Cleo- 
patra, aged seventeen ; a boy, Ptolemy, aged thirteen ; an- 
other boy, called also Ptolemy ; and a girl, called 
p,S,Si- Arsinoe. The last two were of very tender age. 
^^' He left the crown, under approval of the Romans, 

to Cleopatra and the elder Ptolemy, who were to rule con- 
jointly, and to be married when Ptolemy was of full age. 
These directions were carried out ; but the imperious spirit 
of Cleopatra ill brooked any control, and it was not long ere 
she quarrelled with her boy-husband, and endeavored to de- 
prive him of the kingdom. War followed ; and Cleopatra, 
driven to take refuge in Syria, was fortunate enough to se- 
cure the protection of Julius Caesar, whom she fascinated by 
her charms, b.c. 48. With his aid she obtained the victory 
over her brother, who perished in the struggle. Cleopatra 
was now established sole queen, b.c. 47, but on condition that 
she married in due time her other brother, the younger son 
of Auletes. Observing the letter of this agreement, Cleopa- 



284 MACEDONIAN KINGDOMS. [book iv. 

tra violated its spirit by having her second husband, shortly 
after the wedding, removed by poison, b.c. 44. The remain- 
der of Cleoj^atra's reign was, almost to its close, prosper- 
ous. Protected by Julius Caesar during his lifetime, she suc- 
ceeded soon after his decease in fascinating Antony, b.c. 41, 
and making him her slave for the rest of his lifetime. The 
details of this period belong to Roman rather than to Egyp- 
tian history ; and will be treated in the last book of this 
Manual. It will be sufficient to note here that the latest 
descendant of the Ptolemies retained the royal title to the 
end, and showed something of Ihe spirit of a queen in pre- 
ferring death to captivity, and perishing upon the capture 
of her capital, b.c. 30. 

PART III. 

History of Macedonia, and of Greece, from the Death of Alexander to the 
Roman Conquest, b.c. 323 to 146. 

Sources. The sources for this history are nearly the same as those which 
have been cited for the contemporary history of Syria and Eg}'pt. (See pp. 
247, 261.) The chief ancient authorities are Diodorus Siculus (books 
xix.-xxxii., the first two of which only are complete), Polybius, Justin, 
Plutarch ( Vitm Demetrii, Pyrrhi, JEmilii Paidli, Agidis, Cleomenis, Ara- 
ti, Philopoemonis et Flaminini), and Livy (books xxvi.-xh^, and Epitomes of 
books xlvi.-lii.). To these may be added, for the Macedonian chronology, 
Eusebius (Chronicorum Canonum liber prior, c. xxxA^ii.), and for occasional 
facts in the history, Pausanias. 

Of modern works treating of, or touching, the period, the most important 
are Droysen, Nachfolger, etc. (supra, p. 247), Plathe, Geschichte Make- 
doniens (supra, p. 233), and Freeman, History of Federal Governments 
(supra, p. 145, chaps, v.-ix.). The third volume of Niebuhr's Lectures, and 
the last volume of Bp. Thirlwall's History of Greece, are also very worthy 
of the student's attention, Schorn's Geschichte Griechenlands (see p. 298), 
indicates also a careful study of the period. 

1. Grecian history had been suspended during the time 
of Alexander's career of conquest. A slight disturbance 
state of of the general tranquillity had indeed occurred, 

Aielande"s"^ when Alexander plunged into the unknown coun- 
couquests. ^j-igg beyond the Zagros range, by the movement 
against Antipater, which the Spartan king, Agis, originated 
in B.C. 330. But the disturbance was soon quelled. Agis 
was defeated and slain ; and from this time the whole of 
Greece remained perfectly tranquil until the news came of 
Alexander's premature demise during the summer of b.c. 



PEK. 111., PART III.] MACEDON AND GREECE. 285 

323. Then, indeed, hope rose high ; and a great effort was 
made to burst the chains which bound Greece to the loot- 
stool of the Macedonian kings, Athens, under Demosthenes 
and Hyperides, taking, as was natural, the lead m the strug- 
gle for freedom. A large confederacy was formed ; and the 
"^ Lamian War was entered upon in the confident 

Sikn wa\- expectation that the effect would be the libera- 
B.0. 323-321. ^.^^ ^f Qi-eece from the yoke of her oppressor. 
But the result disappointed these hopes. After a bright 
jrleam of success, the confederate Greeks were completely 
defeated at Crannon, B.C. 322, and the yoke of Macedonia 
was riveted upon them more firmly than ever. 

Details of the Lamian War. The league included Athens, Argos, ^ 
Epidlurus, Troezen, Elis, Messenia, Sicyon, Carystus in Euboea, Phocis, Lo- 
crl, Dori , Dolopia, ^niania, the ^tolians, the Acarnan^ns, Leucas, part 
of Epirus, most of Thessaly, and the greater number of the Mahans, ^t^ans, 
nud Ach^ans of Phthiotis. Athens furnished a worthy leader m Leosthenes, 
^vho defeated Antipater near ThermopyL^, and forced him to seek a refuge 
Avithin the walls of Lamia. Antipater sent urgent entreaties for aid to the 
Macedonian leaders in Asia, while Leosthenes pressed the siege, but without 
re«.ult, receiving in the course of it, unfortunately for the Greek cause, a womid, 
from the effects of which he died, B.C. 323. The command fell to Antiphilus, 
who early in B.C. 322, met and defeated the Macedonian general, Leonnatus, 
in Thessaly, as he was bringing succor to Antipater, but was in his turn beaten 
by the combined forces of Craterus and Antipater at Crannon in Thessaly; 
after which the league fell to pieces, and the several states concluded separate 
treaties of peace with the conqueror, who granted favorable terms to all ex- 
cepting Athens and ^toHa. Towards Athens extreme severity was shown. 
Twelve thousand out of the 21,000 citizens were actually deported from the 
. city and removed to Thrace, Illyria, Italy, or the Cyrenaica. The 9000 
richest citizens-the "party of order" headed by Fhocion— were left in ex- 
elusive possession of the state. A Macedonian garrison was at the same 
time placed in Munychia; and the leaders of the anti-Macedonian party, 
Demosthenes, Hyperides, and others, were proscribed. Their deaths soon 
followed ; and marked the complete extinction of Athenian autonomy, ^to- 
lia was then threatened with a fate even worse than that which had befallen 
Athens. But the ^tolians resisted; their country was a difficult one; and, 
the ambition of Perdiccas having about this time alarmed Antipater for his 
own safety, the Macedonian forces were withdrawn from JEtoha, and peace 
concluded, B.C. 321. 

2. The position of Antipater, as supreme ruler of Macedo- 
nia, was far from being safe and assured. The female mem- 
Difficnitposi- bers of the Macedonian royal family— Olympias, 
tiou of Antip. ^i-^g widow of Philip ; Cleopatra, her daughter ; 
atj^-mMace- ^ ^^^^^ ^^ Yitei' of Philip by an Illyrian moth- 



286 MACEDONIAN KINGDOMS. [book iv. 

er ; and Eurydice, daughter of Cynano by her husband Attiyn- 
tas (himself a first cousin of Alexander) — were, one and all, 
persons of ability and ambition, who saw with extreme dis- 
satisfaction the aggrandizement of the generals of Alexan- 
der and the low condition into which the royal power had 
fallen, shared between an infant and an imbecile. Dissatis- 
fied, moreover, with their own positions and j)rospects, they 
commenced intrigues for the purpose of improving them. 
Olympias first offered the hand of Cleopatra to Leonnatus, 
, , . , who was to have turned agjainst Antipater, if he 

Intrigues of n -, • i • ^ • • • 

theMacedoui- had been successful m his Grecian expedition. 
anprincebses. "Yyi^gj^ ^j-^q ^eath of Leonuatus frustrated this 
scheme, Olympias cast her eyes farther abroad, and fixed 
on Perdiccas as the chief to whom she would betroth her 
daughter. Meanwhile, Cynane boldly crossed over to Asia 
with Eurydice, and ofiered her in marriage to Philip Arrhi- 
daeus, the nominal king. To gratify Olympias, who hated 
these members of the royal house, Perdiccas put Cynane to 
death ; and he would probably have likewise removed Eu- 
rydice, had not the soldiers, exasperated at the mother's 
murder, compelled him to allow the marriage of the daugh- 
ter with Philij). Meanwhile, he consented to Olympias's 
schemes, prepared to repudiate his wife, Nicsea, the daugh- 
ter of Antipater, and hoped, with the aid of his friend, Eu- 
menes, to make himself master of the whole of Alexander's 
empire. (See Second Period, § 5.) 

3. The designs of Perdiccas, and his intrigues with Olym- 
pias, having been discovered by Antigonus, and the life of 
Rupture be- that chief being in danger from Perdiccas in con- 
ate?and"per- Sequence, he fled to Europe in the course of b.c. 
aterTuAs^ar 322, and informed Antipater and Craterus of their 
ij.c. 321. peril. Fully appreciating the importance of the 

intelligence, those leaders at once concluded a league with 
Ptolemy, and in the spring of B.C. 321 invaded Asia for the 
purpose of attacking their rival. Here they found Eumenes 
prepared to resist them; and so great was the ability of 
that general, that, though Perdiccas had led the greater por- 
tion of his forces against Egypt, he maintained the war suc- 
cessfully, defeating and killing Craterus, and holding Antip- 
ater in check. But the murder of Perdiccas by his troops, 
and their fraternization with their opponents, changed the 



PER. III., i'AKT in.] MACEDON AND GREECE. 287 

whole face of aftairs. Antipater found himself without an 
effort, master of the situation. Proclaimed sole regent by 
the soldiers, he took the custody of the royal persons, re-dis- 
tributed the satrapies (see Second Period, § 7), and, return- 
ing into Macedonia, held for about two years the first posi- 
DeathofAu- tion in the empire. He was now, however, an 
tipater. q^^ man^nd his late campaigns had probably 

shaken him ; at any rate, soon after his return to Europe, he 
died, B.C. 318, leaving the regency to his brother officer, the 
aged Polysperchon. 

Antipater's conduct in passing over his two sons, Cassander and Philip, is 
certainly remarkable. Did he think them incapable, or was he only anxious 
to spare them the risks of great political exaltation ? 

4. The disappointment of Cassander, the elder of the two 
surviving sons of Antipater, produced the second great war 
Eegeucy of between the generals of Alexander. Cassandei*, 
Poiysperciion. leaving begun to intrigue against Polysperchon, 
was driven from Macedonia by the regent, and, flying to 
Antigonus, induced him to embrace his cause. The league 
Flight of cas- followed between Antigonus, Ptolemy, and Cas- 
sau'&er. sandcr on the one hand, and Polysperchon and 
Eumenes on the other (see Second Period, § 9), Antigonus 
undertaking to contend with Eumenes in Asia, while Cas- 
sander afforded employment to Polysperchon in Europe. 

5. In the war which ensued between Cassander and Poly- 
sperchon, the former proved eventually superior. Poly- 
WarofPoiy- sperchon had on his side the influence of Olym- 
cSamiir^^^ P^''^^' which was great ; and his proclamation of 
B.cr3i8-3i6. freedom to the Greeks was a judicious step, from 
w^hich he derived considerable advantage. But neither as a 
soldier nor as a statesman was he Cassander's equal. He 
lost Athens by an imprudent delay, and failed against Mega- 
lopolis through want of military ability. His policy in al- 
lowing Olympias to gratify her hatreds without let or hin- 
drance was ruinous to his cause, by thoroughly alienating 
the Macedonians. Cassander's triumph in b.c. 316 reduced 
him to a secondary position, transferring the supreme au- 
thority in Macedonia to his rival. 

Details of the War. The rupture commenced with the seizure by 
Nicanor, one of Cassander's partisans, of the chief command at Mimychia, 
B.C. 318. Polysperchon sent his son, Alexander, to negotiate Avith the Athe- 



288 MACEDONIAN KINGDOMS. [book iv. 

nians, and, if possible, i-ecover the fortress. At the same time, he published 
his edict, recalling the Greek exiles generally. The old citizens flocked back 
to Athens, and, espousing the cause of Polysperchon, endeavored to induce 
Nicanor to withdraw. He, however, so far from yielding to their request, by 
a sudden attack occupied Pirteus, and cut off Athens from the sea. This 
was done Avith the connivance of Phocion, who leaned veiy decidedly towards 
Cassander. Presently, Polysperchon, finding that Alexander made no prog- 
ress, advanced upon Athens in person ; whereupon the Athenians took heart, 
rose up against Phocion and his friends, and, h^ing condemned and exe- 
cuted them, re-established a democratic constitution. Polysperchon should 
now have marched straight into Attica ; but, suff'ering minor matters to de- 
lay him, he allowed Cassander to sail in, occupy Pirasus, and deprive him of 
the Avhole advantage of the revolution. After a vain attempt to reduce Pirae- 
us by siege, he left Athens to her fate, and invaded Peloponnese, where he 
was for the most part fairly successful, but failed completely against Mega- 
lopolis. Meanwhile Athens came to terms with Cassander, accepting his 
rule, and submitting to receive as governor his nominee, Demetrius Phale- 
reiis, B.C. 317. Polysperchon having withdrawn into Epirus, Cassander now 
entered the Peloponnese and won back most of the cities. Hereupon Poly- 
sperchon played his last stake. Joining his cause with that of Olympias, he 
invited her to accompany him into Macedonia, to the alarm and indignation 
of Philip Arrhida^us and his consort, who thereupon sought the aid of Cas- 
sander. But Olympias was too quick for this combination to take effect. 
Entering Macedonia in the autumn of B.C. 317, she encountered no opposi- 
tion. Philip's soldiers passed over to her camp, and both he and his consort 
found themselves at her mercy. Olympias was not apt to spare. Philip 
Arrhidfeus, his wife, Eurydice, Nicanor, the brother of Cassander, and one 
hundred other leading Macedonians, Avere put to death. But the day of ret- 
ribution was at hand. In the spring of b.c. 316, Cassander quitted Pelopon- 
nese, and entering Macedonia from Thessaly, besieged Olympias in Pydna. 
The attempts made by Polysperchon to relieve her fiiiled ; and after a few 
months she was forced to surrender herself, and to give over all Macedonia 
into Cassander's power. Soon after, Cassander, though he had promised to 
spare her Hfe, caused her to be executed, after a pretended trial by a public 
assembly of the Macedonians. 

G. The reign of Cassander over Macedonia, which now 
commenced, lasted from b.c. 316 to 296, a period of twenty 
Kei nofCas- 7®^^*^' ^^^^ talents of this prince are unquestion- 
sander.B.c. able, but his moral conduct fell below that of 

316-296. ' , . . » , . . ... 

even the majority or his contemporaries, which 
was sufficiently reprehensible. His bad faith towards Olym- 
pias was folio Aved, within a few years, by the murders of 
Koxana and the infant Alexander, by complicity in the mur- 
der of Hercules, the illegitimate son of Alexander the Great, 
and by treachery towards Polysperchon, who was first se- 
duced into crime and then defrauded of his reward. Cas- 



PER. in., I'ART III.] MACEDON AND GREECE. 289 

Sander, however, was a clever statesman, a good general, and 
a brave soldier. His first step on obtaining possession of 
Macedonia was to m^Ty Thessalonica, the sister of Alexan- 
der the Great, and thus to connect himself with the family 
of the conqueror. Next, fearing the ambition of Antigonus, 
who, after his victory over Eumenes, aspired to rule the 
wdiole empire (see Second Period, § 12), he entered into the 
league of the satraps against that powerful commander, and 
bore his part in the great war, which commencing b.c. 315, 
on the return of Antigonus from the East, terminated b.c. 
301, at the battle of Ipsus. In this war Cassander, though 
he displayed unceasing activity, and much ability for in- 
trigue, was on the whole unsuccessful ; and he would prob- 
ably have lost Greece and Macedonia to his powerful ad- 
versary, had not the advance of Seleucus from Babylon and 
the defeat of Antigonus at Ipsus saved him. 

Details of the War in Europe. The war is divided into two portions 
by the peace of the year b.c. 311, which, practically, was a mere truce for a 
year. — First Portion, b.c. 315 to 312. Antigonus, having made alliance 
with Polysperchon and his son, Alexander, sends Aristodemus of Miletus to 
their assistance, b, c. 314. Cassander wins Alexander to his side, and, after 
his murder, is supported by his widow, Cratesipolis. He makes, however, no 
great impression on the Feloponnese, and in b.c. 313 turns his arms against 
the ^tolian confederacy', whicii now first appears as an important power, in 
league with Antigonus. Cassander, and his general, Philip, obtain successes 
in this quarter, whereupon Antigonus sends a second expedition into Greece 
(b.c. 312) under his nephew, Ptolemy, and deprives Cassander of all his 
gains, turning the scale decidedly in his own favor. The peace of b.c. 311 
follows, after which the war is renewed. — Second Portion, b.c. 310 to 301. 
Cassander having murdered the remaining legitimate monarch, Alexander, 
together with his mother, Roxana, gives an opportunity to Polysperchon to 
bring forward Hercules as rightful king of Macedonia, B.C. 310. The Mace- 
donians inclining towai'ds this young prince, Cassander finds himself in con- 
siderable peril ; whereupon he negotiates with Polyspeixhon, and induces 
him to assassinate his protege, by the promise of establishing him in the gov- 
ernment of Peloponnesus, a promise never executed. Hercules having been 
removed, B.C. 309, Polysperchon marches southward, but has to fight his 
way, Southera Greece being greatly disorganized, and Cassander's influence 
over it but slight. This condition of affairs encourages Ptolemy Lagi, hith- 
erto an ally of Cassander's, to make an expedition into these parts on his own 
account, and to occupy Corinth and Sicyon, b.c 308. Cassander unwillingly 
acquiesces in this intrusion of a rival. The next year he suffers a more im- 
portant loss. Antigonus sends his son Demetrius (Poliorcetes) into Greece, 
and orders him to proclaim the autonomy of the Greek cities, b.c. 307. 
Athens receives him with open arms. He captures Munychia and Megara, 

13 



290 MACEDONIAN KINGDOMS. [book iv. 

held by Macedonian garrisons, enters Athens in triumph, and formally pro- 
claims it free. The exigencies of the general struggle summoning Deme- 
trius to other scenes (Rhodes, Cyprus, etc.), no further progress is made till 
the year B.C. 302, when he returns to Athens afld is once more enthusiastic- 
ally received. All Southern Greece joins him, and in the spring of b.c. 301, 
he advances into Thessaly at the head of an army of 56,000 men, witli 
which he threatens Cassander in Macedonia. But at this point Cassander is 
saved by the danger of Antigonus in Asia. Demetrius being recalled by his 
father, a peace is formally concluded, and Demetrius quitting Europe leaves 
Greece at the mercy of his antagonist. 

T. Cassander did not live long to enjoy the tranquillity 
which the defeat and death of Antigonus at Ipsus brought 
Death of Gas- him. He died b.c. 298, three years after Ipsus, 
ofPhUip/ilJa leaving the crown to the eldest of his three sons 
298-297. ]jy Thessalonice, Philip. This prince was carried 

off by sickness before he had reigned a year; and the Mace- 
donian dominions at his death fell to Thessalonice, his moth- 
er, who made a division of them between her two surviving 
sons, Antipater and Alexander, assigning to the latter West- 
ern, and to the former Eastern Macedonia. 

8. Antipater, who regarded himself as w^ronged in the par- 
tition, having wreaked his vengeance on his mother by caus- 
Reigns of An- iug her to be assassinated, applied for aid to his 
A?exancie\%"^^ wifc's father, Lysimachus ; while Alexandei*, fear- 
B.o. 297-294. jj-,g ij^g brother's designs, called in the help of 
Pyrrhus the Epirote and of Demetrius, n.c. 297. Demetrius, 
after the defeat of Ipsus, had still contrived to maintain the 
position of a sovereign. Rejected at first by Athens, he had 
besieged and taken that city, had recovered possession of 
Attica, the Megarid, and great portions of the Peloponnese, 
and had thus possessed himself of a considerable power. 
Appealed to by Alexander, he professed to embrace his 
cause ; but ere long he took advantage of his position to 
murder the young priiice, and possess himself of his king- 
dom. Antipater was about the same time put to death by 
Lysimachus, b.c. 294. 

9. The kingdom of Demetrius comprised, not only Mace- 
donia, but Thessaly, Attica, Megaris, and the greater part of 
EeignofDe- the Peloponnese. Had he been content with 
orSl^ B.c!^' these territories, he might have remained quietly 
294-287. ]y\ the possession of them, for the flxmilies of Al- 
exandei- the Great and of Antipater were extinct, and the 



PER. III., PART III.] MACEDON AND GREECE. 291 

connection of Demetrius with Seleucus, who had married his 
daughter (see Third Period, Part I., § 5), would have rendered" 
his neighbors cautious of meddling with him. But the am- 
bition of Demetrius was insatiate, and his self-confidence un- 
bounded. After establishing his authority in Central Greece 
and twice taking Thebes, he made an unprovoked attack 
upon Pyrrhus, B.C. 290, from whom he desired to wrest some 
provinces ceded to him by the late king, Alexander. In this 
attempt he completely failed, whereupon he formed a new 
project. (Collecting a vast army, he let it be understood that 
he claimed the entire dominion of his father, Antigonus, and 
was about to proceed to its recovery, b.c. 288. Seleucus and 
Lysimachus, whom this project threatened, Avere induced, in 
consequence, to encourage Pyrrhus to carry his arms into 
Macedonia on the one side, while Lysimachus himself in- 
vaded it on the other. Placed thus between two fires, and 
finding at the same time that his soldiers were not to be de- 
pended upon, Demetrius, in b.c. 287, relinquished the Mace- 
donian throne, and escaped secretly to Demetrias, the city 
which he had built on the Pagasean Gulf and had made a 
sort of capital. From hence he proceeded on the expedition, 
which cost him his liberty, against Asia. (See Third Period, 
Part I., §7.) 

10. On the flight of Demetrius, Pyrrhus of Epirus became 
king of the greater part of Macedonia ; but a share of the 
First rei^n of ^P^^^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^^ claimed by Lysimachus, who 
Pyrrhusru.c. received the tract adjoining his own territories. 

A mere share, however, did not long satisfy the 
Macedonian chieftain. Finding that the rule of an Enirotic 
prince was distasteful to the Macedonians, ne contrived after 
a little while to pick a quarrel with his recent ally, and hav- 
ing invaded his Macedonian territories, forced him to relin- 
quish them and retire to his own country, after a reign which 
lasted less than a year. 

11. By the success of Lysimachus, Macedonia became a 
mere appendage to a large kingdom, which reached from 
Rei^nofL ^^^ Halys to the Pindus range, its centre being 
simachue, b.c. Thracc, and its capital Lysimacheia in the Cher- 

286-2S1. m • ^ • w i i 

sonese. ihese circumstances might not by them- 
selves have alienated the Macedonians, though they could 
scarcely have failed after a time to arouse discontent ; but 



292 MACEDONIAN KINGDOMS. [book iv. 

when Lysimachus, after suifering jealousy and dissension to 
carry ruin into his own family, proceeded to acts of tyranny 
and violence towards his nobles and other subjects, these 
last called on Seleucus Nicator to interfere for their preser- 
BattieofCo- vation ; and that monarch, having invaded the 
rupedion. territories of his neighbor, defeated him in the 
battle of Corupedion, where Lysimachus, fighting with his 
usual gallantry, was not only beaten but slain. 

The domestic relations of Eysimachus, which led to this unhappy result, 
were somewhat complicated. He was married to Arsinoe, a daughter of 
Ptolemy Lagi by his second wife, Berenice, while his eldest son, Agathocles, 
the issue of an earlier marriage, was married to Lysandra, a daughter of 
Ptolemy by his first wife, Eurydice. Arsinoe, hating her half-sister, per- 
suaded her husband that Agathocles was plotting against him, whereupon 
Lysimachus put him to death. The widowed Lysandra fled to Seleucus, 
accompanied by Ptolemy Ceraunus, her brother, who had quitted Egypt 
through fear of Berenice. 

12. By the victory of Corupedion, Seleucus Nicator be- 
came master of the entire kingdom of Lysimachus, and, 
„ . , . ^ with the exception of Es^ypt, appeared to have 

Brief reigu of . ^ . ^ . ■, ^ n i ^ • • n 

Seleucus Ni- reunited almost the whole oi the dommions oi 
^' ' ■ * ■ Alexander. But this union was short-lived. 
Within a few weeks of his victory, Seleucus was murdered 
by Ptolemy Ceraunus, the Egyptian refugee Avhom he had 
protected ; and the Macedonians, indifferent by whom they 
Avere ruled, accepted the Egyptian prince without a mur- 
mur. 

13. The short reign of Ptolemy Ceraunus (b.c. 281 to 279) 
was stained by crimes and marked by many imprudences. 
Eeigii of Ptol- Regarding the two sons of Lysimachus by Ar- 
mi\^ £ a'2s"i-- sinoe, his half-sister, as possible rivals, he per- 
2^*-'- suaded her into a marriage, in order to get her 
children into his power ; and, having prevailed with the 
credulous princess, first murdered her sons before her eyes, 
and then banished her to Samothrace. Escaping to Egypt, 
she became the wife of her brother, Philadelphus, and would 
probably have induced him to avenge her wrongs, had not 
the crime of Ceraunus received its just punishment in an- 
Great irrup- Other Avay. A great invasion of the Gauls — one 
Gauis^iito ^^ those vast waves of migration which from time 
Greece. ^q ^ji^^q Sweep ovcr the world — occurring just as 
Ceraunus felt himself in secure possession of his kingdom, 



PER. III., PART III.] MACEDON AND GREECE. ^ 293 

disturbed liis ease, and called for wise and vigorous meas- 
ures of resistance. Ceraunus met the crisis with sufficient 
courage, but with a complete absence of prudent counsel. 
Instead of organizing a united resistance to a common ene- 
my, or conciliating a foe whom he was too weak to oppose 
singly, he both exasperated the Gauls by a contemptuous 
message, and refused the jDroifers of assistance which he re- 
ceived from his neighbors. Opposing the unaided force of 
Macedon to their furious onset, he was completely defeated 
in a great battle, b.c. 279, and, falling into the hands of his 
enemies, was barbarously j^fit to death. The Gauls then 
ravaged Macedonia far and wide ; nor was it till b.c. 277 
that Macedonia once more obtained a settled government. 

The Invasion of the Gauls is one of the most interesting events of the 
post- Alexandrine history. It had permanent effects on Eastern Europe and 
Western Asia, producing among other results the new country of Galatia. 
We may connect the migration to a certain extent with the great movement 
of about a century earlier, which destroyed the Etruscan power in the plain 
of the Po, created Gallia Cisalpina, and caused such great calamities to Rome 
and to most of Italy. Ever since the first lodgment of the Gauls in Northern 
Italy, a migration had been continually in progress. Ti-ibe after tribe crossed 
the Pennine Alps and sought new homes in the sunny South. Eor a time It- 
aly sufficed for the flood of emigrants ; but after a while it was found that no 
further impression could be made on the stubborn Etruscan, Latin, and Sam- 
nite nations, and the stream was forced to find a new vent. The Alps were 
recrossed where they curve round the top of the Adriatic ; and Gallic tribes 
occupied the plain of the Danube and its tributaries, dispossessing the pre- 
vious inhabitants, and becoming known either by the general name of Celts, 
or as Scordisci, Cimbri, etc. Probably the battle of Sentinum, b.c. 295, by 
finally closing Italy against Gallic adventure, gave a fresh impulse to the 
eastward flow of the migratory current. At any rate, by the end of the year 
B.C. 280 a large mass of hungry immigrants had accumulated in Northern II- 
lyria, and in the regions about Mounts Scomius and Scardus. This mass, in 
B.C. 279, rolled forward in three waves, which took three different directions. 
One, under Cerethrius, took a north-easterly course against the Triballi and 
the Thracians ; another, nnder Brennus and Acichorius, proceeded due east 
against the Pgeonians ; the third, under a chief named Belgius, marched 
south-east and fell upon Macedonia. It was with this last leader and his 
troops that Ptolemy Ceraunus came into contact. Warned by the Dardanian 
king of the impending danger,' and offered by him a contingent of 20,000 
men, Ceraunus proudly rejected the overture, confiding in his own strength. 
Summoned by the Gallic chief to save his kingdom from invasion by an as- 
signment of land and a money payment, he made an indignant reply, ntterly 
rejecting the proposition. Invasion followed as a matter of course, and in 
the first battle Ceraunus lost both his crown and his life. The Gauls then 
ravaged Macedonia at their will, until they were checked by Sosthenes, who 



294 , MACEDONIAN KINGDOMS. [book iv. 

had succeeded to the chief authority, after Meleager, the brother of Cerau- 
nus, and Antipater, a nephew of Cassander, had each held the throne for a 
few weeks. In the following year, b.c. 278, a second and still more formida- 
ble irruption of the Gauls took place. Brennus, having first iuA^aded Mace- 
donia and defeated Sosthenes, marched into Southern Greece, forced the pass 
of Thermopylae in the same way as the Persians under Xerxes, and endeavor- 
ed to sack Delphi, but was repulsed and forced to retreat. His demoralized 
army broke up ; and the Gallic hordes generally were shattered into mere 
bands of marauders, which perished by cold, famine, or the sword. In 
Thrace, however, a body contrived to establish a kingdom ; and in Asia 
Minor, the hordes which had crossed over on the invitation of Nicomedes, 
native king of Bithynia (see Period III., Part I., § 9), made themselves 
masters of Northern Phrygia, B.C. 277,*which was thenceforward known as 
Galatia. Other bodies of Gauls took service under the various European and 
Asiatic princes, who found them useful as mercenaries, and employed them in 
the wars which they waged one against another. 

14. On the retirement of the Gauls, Antipater, the nephew 
of Cassander, came forward for the second time, and was 
First reign of accepted as king by a portion, at any rate, of 
gSuS,"1c. t^6 Macedonians. But a new pretender soon ap- 
277-27B. peared upon the scene. Antigonus Gonatas, the 
son of Demetrius Poliorcetes, who had maintained himself 
since that monarch's captivity as an independent prince in 
Central or Southern Hellas, claimed the throne once filled by 
his father, and, having taken into his service a body of Gallic 
mercenaries, defeated Antipater and made himself master of 
Macedonia. His pretensions being disputed by Antiochus 
Soter, the son of Seleucus, who had succeeded to the throne 
of Syria, he engaged in war with that prince, crossing into 
Asia and uniting his forces with those of Nicomedes, the 
Bithynian king, whom Antiochus was endeavoring to con- 
quer. To this combination Antiochus was forced to yield : 
relinquishing his claims, he gave his sister, Phila, in marriage 
to Antigonus, and recognized him as king cf Macedonia. 
Antigonus upon this fully established his power, repulsing 
a fresh attack of the Gauls, and recovering Cassandreia from 
the cruel tyrant, Apollodorus. 

15. But he was not long left in repose. In b.c. 274, Pyr- 
rhus finally quitted Italy, having failed in all his schemes. 
Expulsion of ^^^ having made himself a great reputation. 
Autigonus by Landing in Epirus with a scanty force, he found 

the condition of Macedonia and of Greece favor- 
able to his ambition. Antigonus had no hold on the affec- 



FEK. III., PAiiT III.] MACEDON AND GREECE. 295 

tions of his subjects, whose recollections of his father, Deme- 
trius, were unpleasing. The Greek cities were, some of them, 
under tyrants, others occupied against their will by Mace- 
donian garrisons. Above all, Greece and Macedonia were 
full of military adventurers, ready to flock to any standard 
which offered them a fair prospect of plunder. Pyrrhus, 
therefore, having taken a body of Celts into his pay, de- 
clared war against Antigonus, B.C. 273, and suddenly invaded 
Macedonia. Antigonus gave him battle, but was worsted 
owing to the disaffection of his soldiers, and, being twice 
defeated, became a fugitive and a wanderer. 

The frequent changes of this period must be ascribed to two principal 
causes. 1. The old royal family of the Macedonians having become extinct, 
none of the new houses had as yet obtained a hold on the respect or affections 
of the bulk of the people. One house was regarded as very little better than 
another. None had reigned long enough to obtain any prestige. 2. Mer- 
cenaries had come to form the main strength of armies ; and mercenaries are 
at all times r^^y to change sides and desert the leader of to-day, if they fancy 
that they see in his rival a more generous or a more fortunate commander. 
The Macedonian nation, dispersed over the world, had become weakened ; 
and its fate was now settled for it by Gauls, Thracians, and Illyrians. 

16. The victories of Pyrrhus, and his son Ptolemy, placed 
the Macedonian crown upon the brow of the former, who 
Second reign might not improbably have become the founder 
r/o!'27£27i. ^f ^ great power, if he could have 'turned his at- 
His death, tcntion to Consolidation, instead of looking out 
for fresh conquests. But the arts and employments of peace 
had no charm for the Epirotic knight-errant. Hardly was 
he settled in his seat, when, upon the invitation of Cleony- 
mus of Sparta, he led an expedition into the Peloponnese, 
and attempted the conquest of that rough and difficult re- 
gion. Repulsed from Sparta, which he had hoped to sur- 
prise, he sought to cover his disaj^pointment by the capture 
of Argos ; but here he was still more unsuccessful. Antig- 
onus, now once more at the head of an army, watched the 
city, prepared to dispute its occupation, while the lately 
threatened Spartans hung upon the invader's rear. In a 
desperate attempt to seize the place by night, the adventur- 
ous Epirote -was first wounded by a soldier and then slain 
by the blow of a tile, thrown from a house-top by an Argive 
woman, b.c. 271. 

Character of Pyrrhus. Amid the blood-thirsty, treacherous, and disso- 



296 MACEDONIAN KINGDOMS. [book iv. 

lute princes of the post- Alexandrine times, the character of Pyrrhus stands 
out as something by comparison admirable. He was not really either a good 
or a great man. His conduct was often stained with cruelty, and occasional- 
ly with an insincerity that approached perfidiousness. His aims were purely 
selfish, and show no trace of patriotism. Though his military talent was re- 
markable, his courage great, and circumstances on the whole fairly favorable 
to him, he effected nothing permanent, nothing even grand or considerable. 
His talents strike us as misappHed, and his life as wasted. With a little more 
solidity and singleness of purpose he might have effected much. As it was, 
his powers were frittered away upon unconnected and often ill-judged enter- 
prises. 

17. On the death of Pyrrhus the Macedonian throne was 
recovered by Antigonus, who commenced his second reign 
Second reign ^J establishing his influence over most of the Pel- 
GouataK^c! opouuese, after which he was engaged in a long 
271-239.' ^ar with the Athenians (b.c. 268 to 263), who 
were supported by Sparta and by Egypt. These allies ren- 
dered, however, but little help ; and Athens must have soon 
succumbed, had not Antigonus been called away to Mace- 
donia by the invasion of Alexander, son of Pyrrhus. This 
enterprising prince carried, at first, all before him, and was 
even acknowledged as Macedonian king ; but ere long, De- 
metrius, the son of Antigonus, having defeated Alexander 
near Derdia, re-established his father's dominion over Mace- 
don, and, invading Epirus, succeeded in driving the Epirotic 
monarch out of his paternal kingdom. The Epirots soon 
restored him ; but from this time he remained at peace with 
Antigonus, who was able once more to devote his undivided 
attention to the subjugation of the Greeks. In b.c. 263, he 
took Athens, and rendered himself complete master of At- 
tica ; and, in b.c. 244, nineteen years afterwards, he contrived 
„. , . by a treacherous strataajem to obtain possession 

His l*fl9,tlOTl 

with the Achfe- of Corinth. But at this point his successes ceased, 
au League. ^ poAver had been quietly growing up in a corner 
of the Peloponnese which was to become a counterpoise to 
Macedonia, and to give to the closing scenes of Grecian his- 
tory an interest little inferior to that which had belonged to 
its earlier pages. The Achaean League, resuscitated from its 
ashes about the time of the invasion of the Gauls, b.c. 280, 
had acquired in the space of thirty-seven years sufficient 
strength and consistency to venture on defying the puissant 
king of Macedon and braving his extreme displeasure. In 



PER. III., TART III.] MACEDON AND GREECE. 297 

B.C. 243, Aratus, the general of the League and in a certain 
sense its founder, by a sudden and well-planned attack sur- 
prised and took Corinth; which immediately joined the 
League, whereto it owed its freedom. This success was fol- 
lowed by others. Megara, Troezen, and Epidaurus threw oif 
their allegiance to Antigonus and attached themselves to the 
League in the course of the same year. Athens and Argos 
were threatened; and the League assumed an attitude of 
unmistakable antagonism to the power and pretensions of 
Macedon. Antigonus, grown timorous in his old age, met 
the bold aggressions of the League with no overt acts of hos- 
tility. Contenting himself with inciting the ^tolians to at- 
tack the new power, he remained wholly on the defensive, 
neither attempting to recover the lost towns, nor to retaliate 
by any invasion of Acha3a. 

Rise and Growth of the Ach^an League. The old confederacy of 
the twelve Achgean cities, which has been already spoken of (see Book III., 
Period II., Part II., § A), appears to have been dissolved soon after the 
death of Alexander, by the influence of the Macedonian princes, especially 
Cassander and Demetrius — about b.c. 300 to 290. It was not long wholly 
in abeyance. About b.c. 280, the cities began to draw together again, a 
league being formed between Patrse and Dyme, which was joined almost imr- 
mediately by Pharai and Tritaga. Five years later, b.c. 275, ^gium, Bura, 
and Ceryneia came in, expelling their Macedonian garrisons or their tyrants ; 
and soon afterwards the other three surviving cities of the original twelve, 
^geira, Pellene', and Leontium (Helice and Olenus had ceased to exist) were 
recovered ; and the whole of Achsea was thereby once more united into a 
single political unit. Thus far the movement had no great importance, be- 
ing simply the re-formation of an old community which had never previously 
played an important part in Grecian affairs. A new character was given to 
the League, and the foundation of its greatness laid in b.c. 251, when Ara- 
tus, the liberator of Sicyon from tyranny, induced that wholly separate and 
indeed alien state to ask, and the Achseans to grant, its admission into the 
confederacy. By adopting the principle that foreign states might be received 
into the League, and become members of it on terms of equality with the 
several Achajan towns, an indefinite power of expansion was given to the 
union, which became in principle, and might become in fact, Pan-Hellenic. 
These consequences were not, perhaps, at once generally seen ; but when, in 
B.C. 243, Aratus, the general of the League, threw do^vn the gauntlet to An- 
tigonus, captured his town of Corinth, and induced it to join the confedera- 
tion, and further proceeded to accept as additional members the revolted 
cities of Megara, Epidaurus, and Troezen, tlie existence of a new and formi- 
dable power in Southern Greece was fully revealed, and only the willfully 
blind would fail to perceive it. The aftergrowth of the League, its extension 
to Cleonce, Cynjetha, Stymphalus, Cleitor, Pheneus, Caphyse, Herasa, Tel- 

13* 



298 MACEDONIAN KINGDOMS. [book iv. 

phusa, Megalopolis, ^gina, Hermione, Argos, Phlius, was the natural result 
of the principle asserted in b, c. 25 1 , a principle new to Greece at the time, 
and of the greatest importance to her, since its general adoption might have 
saved her from annihilation. Unfortunately, the old love of separate inde- 
pendence, and the old spirit of jealousy and rivalry, prevented the adoption 
of the principle from being general ; and its partial acceptance could not 
avail greatly. Still, even this partial acceptance deferred for a time the ab- 
sorption of Greece by a foreign power ; and it shed a glory around the period 
of her decline and fall, which recalls in some degree the splendor of those 
days when she rose to greatness. 

Chief Features of the Constitution. 1. Equality of the federated 
cities, each of which had one vote only in the Federal Congress, 2, Com- 
plete internal independence of the several states, which had the exclusive 
ordering of their own domestic aifairs and appointment of their own local 
magistrates and governors. 3. Management of the affairs of the League by 
a General Congress, which met regularly twice a year at some city of the 
League (at first ^gium, afterwards Corinth or Argos), and might be sum- 
moned to hold extraordinary meetings by the chief magistrate at other times. 
This congress consisted, not of deputies from the states, but of all the citizens 
of the states who chose to attend. It appointed the Council ((3ov/iy), a com- 
mittee of its own body, who prepared measures previously to their submission 
to the General Congress, received and conferred with ambassadors, and the 
like ; it also appointed the ten Ministers (Sfj/niovpyol), who formed the coun- 
cil of the head of the state ; and the head of the state himself (aTparriyog)^ 
who united the chief military with the chief civil authority, 4. Constitu- 
tion in theory democratic ; but practical tendency towards an aristocracy of 
wealth, in consequence of offices being unpaid, and the citizens having to 
travel at their own expense in order to attend the general meetings of the 
Congress, 5. Great power of the Strategus or General, who not only had the 
entire direction of the armed force, but in practice for the most part guided 
the whole policy of the League. Restriction on his re-election, which could 
only take place, legally, eveiy other year. 

The following works on the subject of the Acheean League are desei-ving of 
attention : 

Merleker, C. F., Achaicorum lihri tres. Darmstadt, 1837; 8vo. 

ScHORN, Geschichte Griechenlands von der Entstehung des JEtoUschen und 
Achdischen Bundes his auf die Zerstorung Korinths. Bonn, 1833 ; 8vo, 

Helwing, Geschichte des Achdischen Bundes. Lemgo, 1829 ; 8vo. 

Freeman, E. A., History of Federal Government^ vol. i. chaps, v.-ix, 

18. Antigonus Gonatas died b.c. 239, at the age of eighty, 
having reigned in all thirty-seven years. He left his crown 

^ . ,^ to his son, Demetrius II., who inherited his am- 
jxcio'h of De- 

metriusiL, bition without his talents. The first acts of De- 
metrius were to form a close alliance with Epi- 
rus, now under the rule of Olympias, Alexander's widow ; 
to accept the hand of her daughter Phthia, whereby he of- 
fended his queen, Stratonice, and through her Seleucus, the 



PEK. 111., PART ui.J MACEDON AND GREECE. 299 

Syrian king ; and to break with the ^tolians, who were 
seeking at this time to deprive Olympias of a portion of her 
dominions. The ^tolians, alarmed, sought the alliance of 
the Achaean League ; and in the war which followed, Deme- 
trius was opposed by both these important powers. He 
contrived, however, to defeat Aratus in Thessaly, to reduce 
Boeotia, and to re-establish Macedonian ascendency as far as 
the Isthmus. But this was all that he could effect. No 
impression was made by his arms on either of the great 
Leagues. No aid Avas given to Epirus, where the royal 
family was shortly afterwards exterminated. Demetrius 
was perhaps recalled to Macedonia by the aggressive atti- 
tude of the Dardanians, Avho certainly attacked him in his 
later years, and gave him a severe defeat. It is thought by 
some that he perished in the battle. But this is uncertain. 

The assertion of Porphyry in Eusebiiis, that Demetrius II. conquered 
Libya and Cyrene, is untrue, and arises from a confusion between him and 
one of his uncles. Macedonia was far too weak at this time for any such 
enterprise. 

The most important fact of this period was the interference, noiv for the 
first time, ot the Romans in the affairs of Greece. The embassy to the 
^tohans, warning them against interference with Acarnania, 
enceofRoME belongs probably to the year B.C. 238; that to the ^tohans 
in Gi-eciau af- ^j^^i Achajans, announcing the success of the Roman arms 
against the Illyrians, belongs certainly to B.C. 228. In the 
same year, or the year preceding, Corcyra, Apolionia, and Epidamnus be- 
came Roman dependencies. 

19. Demetrius left an only son, Philip, who was but eight 
years old at his decease. He was at once acknowledged 
Eegency of king ; but owing to his tender age, his guardian- 
DoS'ij"^. ^^^H^ ^^'^^ undertaken by his kinsman, Antigonus, 
229-220. i\^Q gQj^ of jjig father's first cousin, Demetrius 

"the Handsome." It was, consequently, this prince who 
directed the policy of Macedonia during the period which 
immediately followed on the death of Demetrius 11. — who, 
in fact, ruled Macedonia for nine years, from B.C. 229 to 220. 
The events of this period are of first-rate interest, including, 
as they do, the last display of patriotism and vigor at Spar- 
ta, and the remarkable turn of affairs whereby Macedonia, 
from being the deadly foe of the Achaean League, became its 
friend, ally, and protector. 

Condition of Sparta at this period. The Spartan constitution had re- 



300 MACEDONIAN KINGDOMS. [book iv. 

mained unchanged in form from the time of the Messenian Wars (see pp. 
150, 151) to the period which we have now reached — a space 
Sparta since of aboA'e four centuries. A project of revolution, conceived by 
^e time of Cinadon, b. c. 399, had been discovered before it could be put 
in execution, and had proved abortive. But, though no formal 
or violent change had occurred, a subtle gradual alteration had destroyed the 
ideal of Lycui-gus. The chief points of this alteration were the following: — 
(a) Diminution of the number of the citizens, by the operation of the laws 
which always cause an aristocracy, that does not recruit itself from without, 
to become more and more contracted. (6) Further and still more striking 
diminution of the number of full citizens, by the operation of tlie Lycurgean 
law limiting citizenship to Spartans of independent means, (c) Concentra- 
tion of wealth, and especially of landed property, in a few hands, partly by 
the practice of marrying heiresses to wealthy men, partly by the permission 
to deal freely with landed estates by gift, sale, or will obtained by the law of 
Epitadeus. (d) Constant encroachment of the Ephors on the power of the 
kings, and final reduction of the latter to mere ciphers. (e) Relaxation of 
the Lycurgean discipline. Abandonment by the citizens genei-ally of the old 
simple and frugal rule of life, and adoption by the wealthy of habits of luxu- 
ly- (/) Contraction of heavy debts by the poorer members of the state, who 
were thus placed at the mercy of a small class of wealthy capitalists. The re- 
sult of the whole was that the entire number of adult male Spartans did not 
exceed 700 ; and of these not more than 100 were in possession of the full 
rights of citizens. This narrow oligarchy Avas occupied almost exclusively 
Avith the difficulties of its own position ; and Sparta consequently stood aloof 
from Grecian politics, and had done so since the attempt of Agis III., in b.c. 
330. Even insults were tamely submitted to ; and when lUyrian pirates rav- 
aged the coast, or iEtolian marauders the interior, no vengeance was exacted. 
Under these circumstances the idea of a reform arose. It Avas proposed to 
Reforms pro- increase the number of citizens to 4500 by admitting Perioeci 
posed by Agis. ^hd foreigners; to redivide the land of the state in equal allot- 
ments to these persons and to 15,000 selected Laconians; to abolish debts; 
and to re-establish the syssitia and the rest of the Lycurgean discipline. A 
first attempt to carry out the reform, made by Agis, b.c. 244 to 241, met 
Avith only partial success, being frustrated by the treachery of the Ephor 
Agesilaiis, and the open opposition of the other king, Leonidas, Avho returned 
from the exile into Avhich Agis had driA^en him, and placed himself at the 
head of the counter-revolution. Agis fell a martyr to his reforming zeal ; 
and the old state of things Avas re-established B.C. 241. But five years later 
Leonidas died, and Avas succeeded by his son, Cleomenes, B.C. 236, Avho had 
married Agis's AvidoAV, Agiatis. Under her influence the young monarch re- 
vived the projects of Agis, and, having first acquired a great militaiy reputa- 
tion in a Avar Avith the Achasan League, succeeded in effecting their accom- 
Carried out by plishment, b. c. 226. At the same time, he abolished the Eph- 
Cleomenes. oralty, modified the character of the Senate {yepovaia), and 
practically destroyed the double monarchy by making his own brother, Eu- 
clides, second king. A glorious period for Sparta followed. Not only Avere 
Varsof Cle- the forces of the Achrean League defeated, but Argos, the an- 
meaes. cient rival of Sparta, submitted to her ; Corinth, revolting from 



PER. III., PART III.] MACEDON AND GREECE. 



301 



the Achajaiis, placed herself under Spartan protection ; Epidaurns, Hermio- 
ne, Troezen, and most of Arcadia did the same ; and even PeUene, one of 
the ten Achaean towns, was occupied, and received a Lacedemonian garrison, 
B.C. 224 to 223. But the tide soon after turned. The animating spirit of 
the Achaean League, Aratus, in his jealousy of Cleomenes, took the traitor- 
ous step of calling in Antigonus to his aid, and agreed to reinstate him in 
the possession of the Acrocorinthus. The result was fatal at once for Greece 
and for Cleomenes. The Achaan League lost its character as the defender 
Battle of Sel- of Greek liberty, and to a great extent broke up. Cleomenes 
lasia,«. 0.221. forced to stand upon the defensive, was attacked and defeated 
at Sellasia, b.c. 221, and became a fugitive at the court of Ptolemy. The 
reaction triumphed at Sparta, and her last chance of recovering her ancient 
glory was lost. Macedonia was once more supreme over almost all Greece, 
the only parts unsubdued being ^tolia, Messenia, and Elis. All the efforts 
of Aratus to raise up a power in Greece which might counterbalance Mace- 
don, and of Agis and Cleomenes to regenerate their country and make her 
the fitting head of a free Hellas, had ended in simply delivering Greece up, 
bound hand and foot, into the power of her great enemy. 

20. The other wars of Antigonus Doson were comparative- 
ly unimportant. He repulsed an attack of the Dardanians, 
Minor wars of ^^^ ^^^ defeated his predecessor, suppressed an 
Antigonus Do- insurrection in Thessaly, and made an expedition 
by sea against South-western Asia Minor, which 
is said to have resulted in the conquest of Caria. It was im- 
possible, however, that he should long hold this distant de- 
pendency, which shortly reverted to Egypt, the chief mari- 
time power of this period. Soon after his return from 
Greece, Antigonus died of disease, having held the sover- 
eignty for the space of nine years. He was succeeded by the 
rightful heir to the throne, Philip, the son of Demetrius H., 
in w^hose name he had carried on the government. 

21. Philip, who was still no more than seventeen years 
old, w-as left by his kinsman to the care of tutors and guard- 
Reign of Phii- ^^"^- ^® seemed to ascend the throne at a fa- 
22o-i79.'''''' ^<^i'a^^e moment, when Macedonia, at very little 
expenditure of either men or money, had recov- 
ered Greece, had repulsed her Illyrian adversaries, and w^as 
released, by the death of Ptolemy Euergetes, from her most 
formidable enemy among the successors of Alexander. But 
all these advantages were neutralized by the rash conduct 
of the king himself, who first allied himself with Hannibal 
against Rome, and then with Antiochus against Egypt. Ko 
doubt Philip saw, more clearly than most of his contempo- 



302 -• MACEDONIAN KINGDOMS. [book iv. 

raries, the dangerously aggressive character of the Roman 
power; nor can we blame him for seeking to form coalitions 
against the conquering republic. But, before venturing to 
make Rome his enemy, he should have consolidated his pow- 
er at home ; and, when he made the venture, he should have 
been content with no half measures, but should have thrown 
himself, heart and soul, into the quarrel. 

22. The first war in which the young prince engaged was 
one that had broken out between the Achseans and ^tolians. 
War cf the The ^tolians, who now for the first time show 
Leagues. thcmsclves a really first-rate Greek power, had 
been gradually growing in importance, from the time when 
they provoked the special anger of Antipater in the Lamian 
War (supra, p. 285), and were threatened with transplanta- 
tion into Asia. Somewhat earlier than this they had organ- 
ized themselves into a Federal Republic, and had thus set 
the example which the Achseans followed half a century af- 
terwards. Some account of their institutions, and of the ex- 
tent of their power, is requisite for the proper understanding 
both of their strength and of their weakness. 

The rise of the League belongs probably to the reign of Alexander, when 
the various tribes, who had previously only acted together upon certain occa- 
Character of sions, formed a permanent union, with a view (probably) of 
the -^tolian maintaining their independence. The union, which was orig- 
League. inally one of tribes, not of cities, involved (a) the institution of 

the " Pan-JEtolicum " or General Assembly of all ^tolians, which met regu- 
larly once a year — commonly at Thermon — for the discussion of business and 
election of officers, and might also be convened, as often as was thought to 
be desirable, by the chief magistrate ; (6) the nomination of a select council 
(JnzoKkrjToi)^ consisting seemingly of 1000 members, no doubt appointed by 
the Assembly, which performed the ordinary functions of a Greek council or 
senate ; (c) the creation of a chief of the League, a federal head, who was 
elected annually by the Assembly at its regular meeting, and of two other 
great officers, elected in the same way, a commander of cavalry (iTrndpxvo)^ 
and a Secretary (ypap.jiaT£vg) ; and {d) the election of certain officers called 
*'Synedri" and " Nomographi, " whose duties are uncertain. After the 
League had existed for some little time, it began to be aggressive and to 
spread itself. (Eniadge was annexed while Alexander was engaged in Asia ; 
Extent of the Heracleia in Trachis, at the time of the great Gallic invasion 
League. (supra, p. 293). Afterwards Acarnania, Western Locris, Do- 

ris, Southern Thessaly, Achoea Phthiotis, several cities of Arcadia, Cius on 
the Propontis, and the islands of Teos and Cephallenia joined the League 
voluntarily, or were forced into it ; and it even at one time had relations with 
Boeotia which almost amounted to incorporation. It thus stretched across 



PER. III., PAKT III.] MACEDON AND GREECE. 303 

Central Greece from the Ionian to the -ZEgean Sea, comprising also islands 
in both seas, and other still more remote dependencies. It was not, however, 
the principle of the League to admit, generally, foreign states on terms of 
equality. This may have been done in some instances ; but usually the rela- 
tion established was one of inequality — inequality varying in degree from 
mere inferiority of dignity to absolute subjection. This is one of the most 
, marked differences between the -.Etolian League and that of 

the ^'tolian Achisa. Another difference is to be traced in the wilder char- 
and Achseau j^cter and inferior Hellenism of the JEtolians, who never quite 
emerged out of the state of barbarity described by Thucydides, 
but continued a robber nation to the end. ^tolia had at no time any pa- 
triotic aims — she wished simply her own aggrandizement. In her wars, what 
she mainly sought was plunder, and her expeditions were generally raids for 
the sake of carrying off spoil. To gain her ends, she was ready to wink at 
any infringement of international law and to ally herself with any power. 
On two occasions only did she do good service to Greece, in the Lamian W.ir 
and at the great Gallic inroad, her conception of her own inteuests on these 
occasions happening to coincide with the interests of Hellas. She joined with 
Epirus to crush Acamania, and was ready to join Avith Macedon to partition 
Achsea. Finally, she brought the Romans in upon Greece by a formal trer.iy 
of alliance, entering into a treasonable partnership with the foreign power 
which the Greeks had most to fear, and obtaining the aid of Roman fleets 
and armies to help her against her Hellenic adversaries. It is further re- 
markable that -^tolia never produced a great man. While Achsea had her 
Aratus, her Lydiades, and her Philopoemen, all of them men Avho would have 
been remarkable at any period of Grecian history, ^tolia could produce noth- 
ing higher than a Dorimachus or a Scopas, successful robbers on a par with 
Philomelus and Onoraarchus, but with no pretensions to the character of 
either generals or statesmen. 

Brandstaeter, F. a., Geschichte des dtolischen Landes und Volkes. Ber- 
lin, 1844 ; 8vo. 

23. The war of the ^tolians and Achseans was provoked 
by the former, who thought they saw in the accession of so 
Successful y<^"ii» 3, prince as Philip to the throne of Mace- 
Phnhfhi'th^*^ ^^^^ ^ favorable opportunity for advancing their 
^toio-Achae- interests after their own peculiar method. It 
commenced with the invasion of Messenia, and 
would probably have been ruinous to Achaea, had Philip 
allowed himself to be detained in Macedonia by apj^rehen- 
sions of danger from his Illyrian neighbors, or had he shown 
less vigor and ability in his proceedings after he entered 
Greece. Though thwarted by the treachery of his minister 
and guardian, Apelles, who was jealous of the influence of 
Aratus, and but little aided by any of his Greek allies, he 
gained a series of brilliant successes, overrunning most of 



304 MACEDONIAN KINGDOMS. [book iv. 

^tolia, capturing Thermon, the capital, detaching from the 
League Phigaleia in Arcadia and the Phthian Thebes, and 
showing himself in all respects a worthy successor of the 
old Macedonian conquerors. But after four years of this 
successful warfare, he allowed himself to be diverted from 
what should have been his first object, the coinplete reduc- 
tion of Greece, by the prospect which opened upon him after 
Hannibal's victory at Lake Thrasimene. At the instance of 
Demetrius of Pharos he concluded a peace with the ^toli- 
ans on the principle of iiti possedetis^ and, retiring into Mace- 
donia, entered upon those negotiations which involved him 
shortly afterwards in a war with Rome. 

Details or the ^TOLO-AcHiEAN War. Incursion of the ^tolians 
through Achsea into Messenia under Scopas and Dorimachus, and pkmder- 
ing expeditions by sea at the same time against Acarnania and Epirus, B.C. 
220. Defeat of Aratus at Caphyge. The ^tolians capture Cynsetha. Ad- 
vance of Philip, B.C. 219. He invades -^tolia and captures Pseanium and 
CEniadae, but is recalled to Macedon by a rumored incursion of the Dardani- 
ans. Having terrified the Dardanians into submission, he returns during the 
winter into Greece, enters Peloponnese, defeats the -^tolian general, Eurip- 
idas, takes Psophis, overruns Elis, receives the submission of Phigaleia, and 
finally rests his army for the remainder of the winter at Argos, b.c. 218. In 
the early spring, having collected a fleet, he sails to Cephallenia and besieges 
Pale, but fails to take it ' owing to the treachery of Apelles. Crossing to 
Acarnania, he invades iEtoHa from the north-west, and, marching into the 
very centre of the country, takes and destroys Thermon, the capital, defeats 
every force which attempts to oppose him, and proceeding to Corinth, enters 
the Peloponnese and ravages the whole territory of Sparta, as far as Malea 
and Taenarum. On his return, he defeats Lycurgus, the Spartan king, near 
Sparta. Winter approaching, he returns to Macedonia, and captures Byla- 
zora in Paeonia, a city commanding the passes into Macedonia from the 
country of the Dardanians. In the spring of B.C. 21.7, he advances into 
Thessaly, besieges and takes Phthian Thebes, and thence proceeds to Argos 
to be present at the Nemean Games. Here the news of the battle of Lake 
Thrasimene reaches him, and he consents to peace. 

The histoiy of this war has been written by Merleker. See his Ge- 
schichte des yEtolisch-Achdischen Bundesgenossen Krieges, nach den Quellen 
dargestellt. Konigsberg, 1831 ; 8vo. 

It is also given in considerable detail by Thirlwall, History of Greece, 
vol. viii. chap. Ixiii. 

24. The negotiations opened by Philip with Hannibal, b.c. 
216, interrupted by the capture of his ambassadors, were 
First war of brought to a successful issue in b.c. 215; and in 
S!e R^imans, ^^^^ cusuiug year Philip began his first war with 
B.0. 214-207. Rome by the siege of Apollonia, the chief Roman 



PER. III., PART III.] MACEDON AND GEEECE. ;}05 

port in Illyricum. By securing this place, he expected to 
facilitate the invasion of Italy on which he was bent, and to 
prejDare the way for that comj^lete expulsion of the Romans 
from the eastern coast of the gulf, which was one of the ob- 
jects he had most at heart. But he soon letrned that the 
Romans were an enemy with whom, under any circum- 
stances whatever, it w^as dangerous to contend. Defeated 
by M. Valerius, who surprised his camp at night, he was 
obliged to burn his ships and make a hasty retreat. His 
schemes of invasion were rudely overthrown ; and, three 
years later, b.c. 211, the Romans, by concluding a treaty 
with ^tolia and her allies (Elis, Sparta, the Illyrian chief, 
Scerdilaidas, and Attains, king of Pergamus), gave the war 
a new character, transferring it into Philip's own dominions, 
and so occuj^ying him there that he was forced to implore 
aid from Carthage instead of bringing succor to Hannibal. 
After many changes of fortune, the Macedonian monarch, 
having by the hands of his ally, Philopoemen, defeated the 
Spartans at Mantineia, induced the ^tolians to conclude a 
separate peace ; after which the Romans, anxious to con- 
centrate all their energies on the war with Carthage, con- 
sented to a treaty on terms not dishonorable to either party. 

Details op the First Roman War. The Romans (b.c. 211) conquer 
Zacynthus, CEniadee, and Nesos, and deliver them over to the ^tolians. Phil- 
ip is engaged with wars at home against the Illyrians and Thracians. The 
next year (b. c. 210) the Romans take Anticyra in Locris, and the island of 
JEgina, and hand them over in like manner. Philip advances to Malis, and 
besieges Echinus, which he takes, despite an attempt of the Romans and 
jEtolians to relieve it. In B.C. 209, Philopoemen appears upon the scene and 
commences those reforms by which he gave new life and vigor to Achtea. 
On the other side Attains arrives from- Asia, and co-operates with the Romans 
and -^tolians. Philip now marches southward, and, entering the Pelopon- 
nese, defeats a Roman detachment in Achasa, and invades Elis, but is there 
defeated by Sulpicius Galba and narrowly escapes with his life. The opera- 
tions of the next year, b.c. 208, were unimportant. The chief event was the 
recall of Attains, Avho was forced to return to Asia in order to repel an attack 
made upon his kingdom by his neighbor, Prusias of Bithynia. Nearly of 
equal importance was the appointment of Philopoemen to the headship of 
Achoja, Avhich produced in the year following, b.c. 207, the victory of Man- 
tineia, and placed Philip on that vantage-ground which enabled him to dictate 
terms to the Achseans, and to conclude his peace with the Romans on con- 
ditions which were fairly equal. 

25. Philip had now a breathing-space, and might have em- 



306 MACEDOiNlAN laNGDOMS. [book iv. 

ployed it to consolidate his power in Macedonia and Greece, 
before the storm broke upon him which was man- 

W^ar with 

Egypt, Attains ifestly impending. But his ambition was too 
d?ans,B.c.203- great, and his views were too grand, to allow of 
^^^' his Engaging in a work so humble and unexcit- 

ing as consolidation. The Macedonian monarch had by this 
time disappointed all his earlier promise of virtue and mod- 
eration. He had grown profligate in morals, criminal in his 
acts, both public and private, and strangely reckless in his 
policy. Grasping after a vast empire, he neglected to secure 
what he already possessed, and, while enlarging the bounds, 
he diminished the real strength of his kingdom. It became 
now his object to extend his dominion on the side of Asia, 
and with this view he first (about b.c. 205) concluded a treaty 
with Antiochus the Great for the partition of the territories 
of Egypt, and then (b.c. 203) plunged into a war with Atta- 
lus and the Rhodians. His own share of the Egyptian spoils 
was to comprise Lysimacheia and the adjoining parts of 
Thrace, Sanios, Ephesus, Caria, and perhaps other portions 
of Asia Minor. He began at once to take possession of these 
places. A war with Attains and Rhodes was almost the nec- 
essary result of such proceedings, since their existence de- 
pended on the maintenance of a balance of power in these 
parts, and the instinct of self-preservation naturally threw 
them on the Egyptian side. Philip, moreover, took no steps 
to disarm their hostility : on the contrary, before war was 
declared, he burnt the arsenal of the Rhodians by the hands 
of an emissary; and in the war itself, one of his opening acts 
was to strengthen Prusias, the enemy of Attains, by making 
over to him the ^tolian dependency, Cius. The main event 
of the war was the great defeat of his fleet by the combined 
squadrons of the two powers off Chios, b.c. 201, a defeat ill 
compensated by the subsequent victory of Lade. Still Phil- 
ip was, on the w^hole, successful, and accomplished the main 
objects which he had in view, making himself master of 
Thasos, Samos, Chios, of Caria, and of many places in Ionia. 
Unassisted by Egypt, the allies were too weak to protect 
her territory, and Philip obtained the extension of dominion 
which he had desired, but at the cost of provoking the in- 
tense hostility of two powerful naval states, and the ill-will 
of ^tolia, which he had injured by his conquest of Cius. 



PER. III., PART III.] MACEDON iVND GREECE. 307 

26. These proceedings of Philip in the ^gean had, more- 
over, been well calculated to bring about a rupture of the 
Rupture with pcace with Rorne. Friendly relations had existed 
Rome, B.o. 200. jjetwecn the Romans and Egypt from the time of 
Ptolemy Philadelphus (supra, p. 273), and even from an ear- 
lier date Rhodes and Rome had been on terms of intimacy. 
Attains was an actual ally of Rome, and had been included 
in the late treaty. It is therefore not surprising that in b.c. 
200 Rome remonstrated, and, when Philip rejected every de- 
mand, declared the peace at an end and renewed the war. 

27. The Second War of Philip with Rome is the turning- 
point in the history of Ancient Europe, deciding, as it did, 
Second War the question whether Macedon and Rome should 
KonTe^'B.c!^*^ Continue two j^arallel forces, dividing between 
200-19T. them the general direction of European affairs, or 
whether the power of the former should be completely swept 
away, and the dominion of the latter over the civilized West 
finally and firmly established. It is perhaps doubtful what 
the result would have been, if Philip had guided his conduct 
by the commonest rules of prudence ; if, aware of the nature 
of the conflict into which he was about to be plunged, he had 
conciliated instead of alienating his natural supports, and had 
Bo been able to meet Rome at the head of a general con- 
federacy of the Hellenes. As it was, Greece was at first di- 
vided, the Rhodians, Athenians, and Athamanians siding with 
Rome; ^tolia, Epirus, Achaea, and Sparta being neutral; 
Allies of either and Thessaly, BcEotia, Acarnania, Megalopolis, and 
party. Argos Supporting Philip ; while in the latter part 
of the war, after Flamininus had proclaimed himself the 
champion of Grecian freedom, almost the entire force of Hel- 
las was thrown on the side of the Romans. Rome had also 
the alliance of the Illyrian tribes, always hostile to their 
Macedonian neighbors, and of Attains, king of Pergamus. 
Philip was left at last without a friend or ally, excepting 
Acarnania, which exhibited the unusual spectacle of a grate- 
ful nation firmly adhering to its benefactor in his adversity. 

Details of the Second Roman War. Sulpicius Galba lands in Epirus, 
B.C. 200, and early the next year, in concert with the Dardanians and Illyri- 
ans, attacks Macedonia on the land side, while the Roman fleet, with the con- 
tingents of Attains and the Rhodians, threatens the sea-hoard. Galba gains 
some advantages, but makes no very serious impression. The fleet takes 



308 MACEDONIAN KINGDOMS. [book iv. 

Andros and Oreus in Euboea. Towards winter -^tolia joins the Roman 
side, and her troops invade Thessaly, where they are defeated by Philip near 
Pharcadon. In b.c. 198 the consul Villius, landing in Epirus late in the 
year, effects nothing, but T. Quinctius Elamininus, his successor, defeats 
Philip on the Aous, and, proclaiming liberty to the Greeks, proceeds through 
Thessaly into Phocis, besieging only the towns held by Macedqnian garri- 
sons. The fleet takes Eretria and Carystus in Euboea. Achaa and Boeotia 
Battle of Cvn- J^^^ ^^^^ Romans. Philip makes alliance with Nabis, and gives 
ocephalse, b.o. him Argos. In B.C. 197, Elamininus, having wintered at 
■^^^' Thebes, invaded Thessaly and met Philip at Cynocephalae, 

where he completely defeated him. This battle decided the Avar, and with 
it the fate of Macedonia. Philip at once consented to terms of peace. 

28. The terms of peace agreed to by Philip after the hat- 
tie of Cynocephala? were the following : — (1) He was to 

evacuate all the Greek cities which he held, 

Terrns of 

peace granted whether ill Europe or Asia, some immediately, 
to Phihp. ^j^^ others within a given time. (2) He was to 
surrender his state-galley and all his navy except five light 
ships. (3) He was to restore all the Roman prisoners and 
deserters; and (4) he was to pay to the Romans 1000 tal- 
ents, 500 at once, the rest in ten annual installments. He Avas 
also to abstain from all aggressive war, and to surrender 
any claim to his revolted province, Orestis. These terms, 
though hard, were as favorable as he had any right to ex- 
pect. Had the ^tolians been allowed to have their way, 
he would have been far more severely treated. 

29. The policy of Rome in proclaiming freedom to the 
Greeks, and even withdrawing her garrisons from the great 

fortresses of Demetrias, Chalcis, and Corinth — the 
Gree?™B!o.° " fetters of Greece " — was undoubtedly sound. 
^^'^' Greek freedom could not be maintained except- 

ing under her protection ; and, by undertaking the protect- 
orate, she attached the bulk of the Greek people to her 
cause. At the same time, the establishment of universal 
freedom prevented any state from having much power; and 
in the quarrels that were sure to ensue Rome would find her 
advantage. 

The chief features of the settlement of Greece made by Elamininus, b.c. 
194, were the subdivision of states and the establisliment of separate inde- 
pendence. Perrhcebia, Dolopia, and Magnesia were dcrp; hcd from Thessaly 
and erected into independent communities. In Euboea, Oreus, Eretria, and 
Carystus were made free towns. Argos was detached from Sparta, and be- 



PER. III., PART III.] MACEDON AND GREECE. 309 

came once more her own mistress. The Leagues of Ach^a and JEtolia were 
not, however, dissolved, but were left to balance each other. Achica even 
received back some of her lost states, as Corinth, Hersea, and Triphylia. 
Greece generally seems to have been content with the aiTangement made, 
but it wholly ftiiled to satisfy the ^tolians. 

30. War broke out in Greece in the very year of Flamini- 
nus's departure, B.C. 194, by the intrigues of the iEtolians, 

who encouraged ISTabis to attack the Achseans, 

wUh^touT then murdered Nabis, and finally invited Antio- 
B.o. 194-190. ^^^^^ ^^^^. ^^.^^ ^g.^^ rpj^^ ^gfg^^ ^f Antiochus 

at Thermopylae, B.C. 191 (supra, p. 254), left the ^tolians to 
bear the brunt of the war which they had provoked, and af- 
ter the battle of Magnesia, b.c. 190, there was nothing left for 
them but complete submission. Kome curtailed their terri- 
tory, and made them subject-allies, but forbore to crush them 
utterly, since they might still be useful against Macedonia. 

31. The degradation of ^tolia was favorable to the 
growth and advancement of the Achaean League, which 

at one and the same time was patronized by 

Growth of • ' r^ 1 J^ 1 

the Achasau Rome, and seemed to patriotic Cjrreeks the only 
eague. remaining rallying -point for a national party. 

The League at this time was under the guidance of the able 
and honest Philopoemen, whose efforts for its extension were 
crowned with remarkable success. After the murder of 
Nabis by the ^tolians, Sparta was induced to join the 
League, B.C. 192; and, a year later, the last of the Pelopon- 
nesian states which had remained separate, Messene and 
EUs, came in. The League now reached its widest territo- 
rial extent, comprising all the Peloponnese, together with 
Megara and other places beyond its limits. 

The annexation of Sparta, though legally effected, was an injudicious 
measure; and its compulsory retention in the League, after it had shown 
plainly its wish to secede, was a fatal mistake. Messene, on the other hand, 
though by the murder of Philopoemen it seemed to be intensely hostile, was 
rightly retained, since there the opponents of union were a mere faction. 

32. After the conclusion of his peace with Rome, Philip 
for some years remained quiet. But having assisted the 
r^ -ui f Romans in their struo;2:le with Antiochus and the 

Ti'OUDles of . ^^» . . 

Philip's cios- ^tolians, he was allov/ed to extend his domin- 

iu^ VSRl'S 

ions by wars not only with Thrace, but also with 
the Dolopians, Athamauians, and even the Thessalians and 



310 MACEDONIAN KINGDOMS. [book iv. 

Magiiesians. When, however, his assistance was no longer 
needed, Rome required him to give up all his conquests and 
retire within the limits of Macedonia. Prolong-ed neo^otia- 
tions followed, until at last (b.c. 183) the Senate was induced 
to relax in their demands by the mediation of Demetrius, 
Philip's second son, long a hostage at Rome, for whom they 
professed to have a warm regard. The favor openly shown 
towards this prince by the Roman government was not per- 
haps intended to injure him ; but it naturally had that re- 
sult. It roused the suspicion of his father and the jealousy 
of his elder brother, Perseus, and led to the series of accusa- 
tions against the innocent youth, which at length induced 
his father to consent to his death, b.c. 181. It may have 
been remorse for his hasty act which brought Philip himself 
to the grave within two years of his son's decease, at the 
age of fifty-eight. 

33. It is said that Philip had intended, on discovering the 
innocence of Demetrius, and the guilt of his false accuser, 
Accession of Perseus, to debar the latter from the succession. 
Perseus,^"?' ^e brought forward into public life a certain 
^^^- Antigonus, a nephew of Antigonus Doson, and 
would, it is believed, have made him his heir, had he not 
died both prematurely and suddenly. Antigonus being ab- 
sent from the court, Perseus mounted the throne without 
opposition ; but he took care to secure himself in its posses- 
sion by soon afterwards murdering his rival. 

34. It had been the aim of Philip, ever since the battle of 
Cynocephalae, and it continued to be the aim of Perseus, to 
Preparations maintain the peace with Rome as long as might 
Sru^glie^wfth ^® feasible, but at the same time to invigorate 
Rome. and strengthen Macedonia in every possible way, 
and so to prepare her for a second struggle, which it w^as 
hoped might terminate differently from the first. Philip re- 
populatcd his exhausted provinces by transplantations of 
Thracians and others, recruited his finances by careful work- 
ing of the mineral treasures in which Macedonia abounded, 
raised and disciplined a large military force, and entered 
into alliances with several of the Northern nations, Illyrian, 
Celtic, and perhaps even German, whom he hoped to launch 
against Rome, when the proper time should arrive. Per- 
seus, inheriting this policy, pursued it diligently for eight 



PEK. III., PAiiT III.] MACEDON AND GREECE. 311 

years, allying himself by intermarriages with Prnsias of 
Bithynia and Seleuciis of Syria, winning to his cause Cotys 
the Odrysian, Gentius the lUyrian, the Scordisci, the Bastar- 
nae, and others. Ev^en in Greece he had a considerable 
party, who thought his yoke would be more tolerable than 
that of Rome. Bceotia actually entered into his alliance; 
and the other states mostly wavered and might have been 
won, had proper measures been taken. But as the danger 
of a rupture drew near, Perseus's good genius seemed to for- 
sake him. He continued to pursue the policy of procrasti- 
nation long after the time had arrived for vigorous an«l 
prompt action. He allowed Rome to crush his friends in 
Greece without reaching out a hand to their assistance. 
Above all, by a foolish and ill-timed niggardliness, he lost 
the advantage of almost all the alliances which he had con- 
tracted, disgusting and alienating his allies, one after anoth- 
er, by the refusal of the subsidies which they required be- 
fore setting their troops in motion. He thus derived no 
benefit from his well-filled treasury, which simply went to 
swell the Roman gains at the end of the war. 

35. The Romans landed in Epirus in the spring of B.C. 
171, and employed themselves for some months in detaching 
„, „„ from Perseus his allies, and in puttinor down his 

War of Perse- . ' rr^ • 

ns with Rome, party in the Greek states. They dissolved the 
Boeotian League, secured the election of their 
partisans in various places, and obtained promises of aid 
from Achasa and Thessaly. Perseus allowed himself to be 
entrapped into making a truce during these months, and the 
Romans were thus able to complete their preparations at 
their leisure. At length, tow^ards autumn, both armies took 
the field — Perseus with 39,000 foot and 4000 horse, the Ro- 
mans with an equal number of horse, but with foot not much 
exceeding 30,000. In the first battle, w^hich was fought in 
Thessaly, Perseus was victorious; but he made no use of his 
victory, except to sue for peace, which was denied him. The 
w^ar then languished for two years; but in B.C. 168, the com- 
Battie of Pyd- mand being taken by L. ^milius PauUus, Per- 
"^- sens was forced to an engagement near Pydna 

(June 22), which decided the fate of the monarchy. The 
defeated prince fled to Samothrace, carrying with him 6000 
talents — a sum the judicious expenditure of which might 



312 MACEDONIAN KINGDOMS. [book iv. 

have turned the scale agahist the Romans. Here he was 
shortly afterwards captured by the praetor Octavius, and, 
being carried to Rome by the victorious consul, was led in 
triumph, and within a few years killed by ill usage, about 
B.C. 166. 

According to some accounts, Perseus voluntarily starved himself to death ; 
but the more general statement is that he was killed by his guards, who had 
orders to prevent him from sleeping. The exact date of his death Is uncer- 
tain. 

36. The conquered kingdom of Macedonia was not at once 
reduced into the form of a Roman province, but was divided 
Treatment of ^^P i^^^o four distinct statcs, cach of them, it would 
Macedouia. seem, a kind of federal republic, which were ex- 
pressly forbidden to have any dealings one with another. 
Amphipolis, Thessalonica, Pella, and Pelagonia were made 
the capitals of the four states. To prevent any outburst of 
discontent at the loss of political status, the burdens hither- 
to laid upon the people were lightened. Rome was content 
to receive in tribute from the Macedonians one-half the 
amount which they had been in the habit of paying to their 
kings. 

37. In Greece, the immediate eifect of the last Macedoni- 
an War was the disappearance of four out of the five Feder- 
Effcct of the ^1 Unions, which had recently divided almost the 
warouGreece. ^yholc of the Hellenic soil among them. The 
allegiance of JEtolia had wavered during the struggle ; 
and at its close the Romans either formally dissolved the 
League, or made it simply municipal. Acarnania, which 
went over to Rome in the course of the war, was nominally 
allowed to continue a confederacy, but practically vanishes 
from Grecian history from this moment. Boeotia having 
submitted, b.c. 171, was formally broken up into distinct 
cities. Epirus was punished for deserting the Roman side 
by desolation and depopulation, the remnant of her people 
being handed over to the rule of a tyrant. The only power 
remaining in Greece which possessed at once some strength 
and a remnant of independence, was Achoea, whose fidelity 
to Rome during the whole course of the war made it impos- 
sible even for the Roman Senate to proceed at once to treat 
lier as an enemy. 

38. Achaea, nevertheless, was doomed from the moment 



PER. III., I'ART III.] MACEDON AND GREECE. 31 3 

that Macedonia fell. The policy of Rome was at this time. 
Proceedincrs ^^^^ guidccl by a sense of honor, but wholly by a 
oftheRo- reo'ard for her own interests. Having crushed 

niaus ill ^^ 

Achaea. De-* Macedonia and mastered all Greece except Achsea, 
oUe thousixud shc required for the completion of her work in 
chief citizens, ^j^-g quarter that Achsea should either become 
wholly submissive to her will, or be conquered. It was at 
once to test the submissiveness of the Achcean people, and 
to obtain hostages for their continued good behavior, that 
Rome, in b.c. 167, required by her ambassadors the trial of 
above a thousand of the chief Achseans on the charge of 
having secretly aided Perseus ; and, when the Achaean As- 
sembly did not dare to refuse, carried off to Italy the whole 
of the accused persons. All the more moderate and inde- 
pendent of the Acboeans were thus deported, and the strong 
partisans of Rome, Callicrates and his friends, were left in 
sole i^ossession of the government. For seventeen years the 
accused persons were kept in prison in Etruscan towns with- 
ThPir return. ^"^ ^ hearing. Then, when their number had 

dwindled to three hundred, and their unjust de- 
tention had so exasperated them that a rash and reckless 
policy might be expected from their return to power, Rome 
suddenly released the remnant and sent them back to their 
country. 

39. The natural consequences followed. Power fell into 
the hands of Diseus, Critolatis, and Damocritus, three of the 
Last War of ^^i^^s who Were most bitterly enraged against 
M.^'aits?'^'^"^ Rome; and these persons played into the hands 
liome, ends of their hated enemies by excitino: troubles in- 

tended to annoy the Romans, but which really 
gave them the pretext — which was exactly what they 
wanted — for an armed interference. The rebellion of An- 
driscus, a pretended son of Perseus, in Macedonia (b.c. 149 
to 148), caused a brief delay; but in b.c. 146, four years 
after the return of the exiles, war was actually declared. 
Metellus first, and then Mummius, defeated the forces of the 
League ; Critolatis fell in battle ; Diceus slew himself; Cor- 
inth, where the remnant of the Achaean army had taken 
refuge, was taken and sacked, and the last foint spark of 
Grecian independence was extinguished. Achoea was not, 
indeed, at once reduced into a province ; and, though the 

14 



314 LESSER KINGDOMS. [book i v. 

•League was formally dissolved, yet, after an interval, its 
nominal revival was permitted ; but the substance of liberty 
had vanished at the battle of Leucopetra, and the image of 
it which Polybius was allowed to restore was a mere shad- 
ow, known by both parties to be illusory. Before many 
years were past, Achsea received, like the other provinces, 
her proconsul, and became an integral part of the great em- 
pire against which she had found it vain to attempt to 
struggle. 

Details of the Last Ach^an War. Interference of the League be- 
tween Athens and Oropus, and also between Sparta and Megalopohs, b.c. 
150. Appeal of Sparta to Rome, answered by an ambiguous rescript, b.c. 
149. Defeat of the Spartans by Damocritus, b.c. 148. Interference of Me- 
tellus. Dissolution of the League demanded. In retuni, the Roman envoys 
are insulted at Corinth. After fruitless negotiations, which consume most of 
the year b.c. 14:7, war is finally declared in b.c. 146, Critolaiis being Achaean 
general, and Metellus the commander on the Roman side. Heracleia having 
revolted from the League, Critolaiis proceeds to reduce it, but is forced to 
raise the siege by Metellus, Avho completely defeats him at Scai-pheia, near 
Thermopylse. Death of Critolaiis. Final effort made by Diajus. He col- 
lects a force at Corinth ; gains a slight advantage over the Romans under 
Mummius, and then fights the pitched battle of Leucopetra, in which he is 
tiompletely beaten. Corinth falls. Mummius plunders and destroys it. 



PART IV. 

History of the Smaller States and Kingdoms formed out of the Fragments 
of Alexanders Monarchy. 

Sources. Besides most of the ancient writers mentioned above as au- 
thorities for the history of the Syrian, Egyptian, and Macedonian kingdoms, 
the following are of value : — («) The fragments of Memnon of Heracleia 
Pontica, published in the Fragmenta Historicorum Grcecorum of C. Muller. 
Paris, 1849 ; vol. iii. (6) The Parthica of Arrian, contained in the Bihli- 
otheca of PiiOTius (ed. Bekker. Berolini, 1824; 2 vols. 4to). (c) The 
great work of the Jewish historian Fl. Josephus, entitled Antiquitatum Ju- 
daicarum lihri xx. (ed. K. E. Riciiter. Lipsia;, 1825-7 ; 4 vols. 8vo). 
{d) Ammianus Marcellinus, Historia Romana (ed. Wagner et Erfurdt. 
Lipsiffi, 1808 ; 3 vols. 8vo). And, especially for the Jewish history, (e) The 
Books of Maccabees. 

Modern works on this portion of Ancient History treat, in general, only 
some branch of it, and will therefore find their most fitting place under the 
heads of the various states and kingdoms. 

Besides the three main kingdoms of Syria, Egypt, and 
Macedonia, wliich were formed out of the great empire of 



PER. III., PART IV,] TERGAMUS. 315 

Rise of small- Alexander, there arose in the East at this time, 
of th?fi^ag-^ partly out of Alexander's dominions, partly out of 
"xanderi^em- nnconquered portions of the Persian territory, a 
pii'^- number of independent lesser states, mostly mon- 

archies, which played an important part in Oriental history 
during the decline of the Macedonian and the rise of the Ro- 
man power, and of which therefore some account must be 
given in a work like the present. The principal of these 
were, first, in Asia Minor, Pergamus, Bithynia, Paphlagonia, 
Pontus and Cappadocia ; secondly, in the region adjoining. 
Greater and Lesser Armenia ; thirdly, in the remoter East, 
Bactria and Parthia ; and, fourthly, in the tract between 
Syria and Egypt, Judsea. 

Our information on the subject of these kingdoms is very scanty. No an- 
cient writer gives us any continuous or separate history of any of them. It 
is only so far as they become implicated in the affairs of the greater king- 
doms that they attract the ancient writers' attention. Their history is thus 
very incomplete, and sometimes quite fragmentary. Much, however, has 
been done towards making out a continuous narrative, in some cases, by a 
skillful combination of scattered notices, and a judicious use of the knowledge 
derived from coins. 

I. KINGDOM OF PERGAMUS. 

1. In Western Asia the most important of the lesser king- 
doms Avas that of Pergamus, which arose in the course of the 
KiDgdom of war waged between Seleucus Nicator and Ly- 
rise'S^'gen-' simachus. (See p. 250.) Small and insignificant 
erai features. -^^ j^g origin, this kingdom gradually grew into 
power and importance by the combined military genius and 
prudence of its princes, who had the skill to side always 
with the stronger party. By assisting Syria against the re- 
volted satrap Achgeus, and Rome against Macedon and 
Syria, the kings of Pergamus gradually enlarged their do- 
minion, until they were at length masters of fully half Asia 
Mmor. At the same time, they had the good taste to en- 
courage art and literature, and to render the capital of their 
kingdom a sort of rival to Alexandria. They adorned Per- 
gamus with noble buildings, the remains of which may be 
seen at the present day. They warmly fostered the kindred 
arts of painting and sculpture. To advance literature, they 
established an extensive public library, and attracted to their 
capital a considerable number of learned men. A grammat- 



316 LESSER KINGDOMS. [book iv. 

ical and critical school grew np at Pergamus only second to 
the Alexandrian ; and the Egyptian papyrus was outdone, 
as a literary material, by the chartct Pergamena (parchment). 

2. The founder of the kingdom was a certain Philetserus, 
a eunuch, whom Lysimachus had made governor of the place 
Eei^nofPhii- ^"^^ guardian of his treasures. On the death of 
etffinis, i!.c. Lysimachus at the battle of Corupedion, Philetse- 

281-263. -^ • ^ . 1 • z" xi /» . 1 • 

rus mamtamed possession oi the lortress on his 
own account, and, by a judicious employment of the wealth 
whereof he had become possessed, in the hire of mercenaries 
and otherwise, he succeeded in establishing his independ- 
ence, and even in transmitting his princij^ality and treasure 
to his nej^hew, Eumenes, the son of Eumenes, his brother. 

3. Eumenes I., the successor of Philetgerus, was attacked, 
very shortly after his accession, by Antiochus I., the son and 
Reigu of Ell- successor of Seleucus, but defeated him in a pitch- 
meiies i.,b.c. ed battle near Sardis, and obtained an increase of 

2C3-241. ^ . T , . . ' -TT • -1 

territory by his victory, lie reigned twenty-two 
years, and died from the effects of over-drinking, b.c. 241, be- 
queathing Pergamus to his first cousin, Attains — the son of 
his father's brother. Attains, by Antiochis, the daughter of 
Achseus. 

4. Attains I. distinguished himself early in his reign 
(about B.C. 239) by a great victory over the Gauls, who had 
Rei n of At- ^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^ above thirty ycai's settled in North- 
taius I., B.C. ern Phrygia (Galatia), whence they made contin- 
ual plundering raids upon their neighbors. On 

obtaining this success, he for the first time assumed the title 
of "king," having previously, like his two predecessors, 
borne only that of " dynast." From this time we hear noth- 
ing of him for the space of about ten years, when Ave find 
him engaged in a war with Antiochus Hierax, the brother of 
Seleucus Callinicus, Avho was endeavoring to make himself 
king of Asia Minor. Having defeated this ambitious prince, 
and driven him out of Asia, Attains succeeded in vastly en- 
larging his own dominions, which, about b.c. 226, included 
most of the countries west of the Halys and north of Tan-, 
rus. But the Syrian monarchs were not inclined to submit 
to this loss of territory. First Seleucus Ceraunus (b.c. 226), 
and then Antiochus the Great, by his general Achasus (b.c. 
223), made war upon Attains, and by the year b.c. 221 his 



PER. III., TART IV.] PERGAMUS. 317 

conquests were all lost, and his dominions once more reduced 
to the mere Pergamene principality. But in b.c. 218 the tide 
again turned. By the help of Gallic mercenaries Attalus re- 
covered -<Eolis ; and two years later he made a treaty with 
Antiochus the Great against Achseus, Avho had been driven 
3nto revolt, which led to his receiving back from Antiochus, 
after Achaeus's defeat and death, b.c. 214, most of the terri- 
tory whereof he had been deprived seven years previously. 
Three years after this, b.c. 211, by joining the ^tolians and 
Komans against Philip, he laid the foundation of the later 
prosperity of his kingdom, which depended on its enjoying 
the favor and patronage of Rome. In vain Philip, after 
peace had been made, b.c. 204, turned upon Attalus, invad- 
ing and ravaging his territory, and endeavoring to sweep his 
fleet from the sea. Attalus, in alliance with Rhodes, proved 
more than a match for this antagonist; and the battle of 
Chios, B.C. 201, avenged the desolation of Pergamus. In the 
second war between Rome and Philip, b.c. 199, the Perga- 
mene monarch, though he was seventy years of age, took 
again an active part, supporting the Romans with his fleet, 
and giving them very valuable aid. But the exertion 
proved too much for his physical strength: he was seized 
with illness as he pleaded the cause of Rome in an assembly 
of the Boeotians, B.C. 197, and, having been conveyed to Per- 
gamus, died there in the course of the same year. He left 
behind him four sons by his wife Apollonias, viz., Eumenes, 
Attalus, Philetserus, and Athenaeus. 

The encourngement of art and literature by the Pergamene monarchs 
dates from this reign. Ah-eady were the temples raised so noted for their 
magnificence and rare workmanship. The cordial reception of Attalus at 
Athens was no doubt in part owing to the character of a patron of learning 
which attached to him. 

5. Eumenes II., the eldest of the sons of Attalus, succeed^ 
ed him. He was a prudent and warlike prince, the inheritor 
^ . ,^ at once of his father's talents and his policy. In 

Reign of En- , , . , -r-^ i • i -rli -t • i 

menesii.,B.c. the wars which Rome wagged with Phihp, with 
Antiochus, and with Perseus, he threw his weight 
on the Roman side, only on one occasion showing some slight 
symptoms of wavering, when in b.c. 169 he held some sepa- 
rate correspondence with Perseus. In return for the aid 
which he furnished ai^ainst Antiochus, Rome, after the bat- 



318 LESSER KINGDOMS. [book iv. 

tie of Magnesia, made over to him the greater part of the 
territory whereof she had deprived the Syrian king. Not 
only were Mysia, Lydia, Phrygia, Lycaonia, Pamphylia, and 
portions of Caria and Lycia, acknowledged now by the au- 
thority of Rome to be integral parts of the kingdom of Per- 
gamus, but even the Chersonese, with its capital Lysima- 
cheia, and the adjacent parts of Thrace, were attached to it. 
The Pergamene monarchy became in this way one of the 
greatest kingdoms of the East ; and in the war which fol- 
lowed with Prusias of Bithynia, b.c. 183, it was still further 
enlarged by the addition of the Hellespontine Phrygia. In 
those waged with Pharnaces of Pontus, b.c. 183 to 179, and 
with the Gauls, about b.c. 168, it was, however, the object of 
Eumenes to maintain, rather than to enlarge, his boundaries. 
Towards the close of his long reign he seems to have become 
suspicious of the increasing power of the Romans, and to 
have been inclined to counteract their influence, so far as he 
dared. Hence the Romans distrusted him, and were dis- 
posed to support against him his brother Attains, who was 
more thoroughly attached to their interests. It was perhaps 
fortunate for Eumenes that he died when he did : otherwise, 
he might have had to contend for the possession of his king- 
dom with his own brother, supported by all the power of 
Rome. 

The patronage of art and literature, commenced by the first Attains, Avas 
carried yet farther by Eumenes, He founded the great library at Pergamus, 
which Avas regarded as rivalling that of Alexandria, and adorned his capita] 
with a vast number of splendid buildings. Crates of Mallus began to teach 
at Pergamus in his reign. 

6. Though Eumenes left behind him a son, called Attains, 
yet, as this Attains was a mere boy, the crown w^as assumed 
Reign of At- by his uuclc, Attalus, who took the surname of 
adeiph"s)f«-o' Philadclphus. Philadclphus reigned twenty-one 
159-138. ' years, from b.c. 159 to 138. In the earlier part 
of his reign he was actively engaged in various wars, restor- 
ing Ariarathes to his kingdom, about b.c. 157, helping Alex- 
ander Bala against Demetrius, b.c. 152, assisting the Romans 
to crush Andriscus, the pseudo-Philip, b.c. 149 to 148, and, 
above all, engaging in a prolonged contest with Prusias II., 
who would undoubtedly have conquered him and annexed 
Pergamus to Bithynia, if Attalus had not called in the aid 



PEK. III., TART IV.] PERGAMUS. 319 

of Ariarathes of Cappadocia and Mithridates of Pontus, and 
also that of the Romans. The threats of Rome forced Pru- 
sias to abstain, and even to compensate Attains for his 
losses. Attains, nevertheless, was glad when, b.c. 149, an 
opportunity offered itself of exchanging Prusias for a more 
peaceful and friendly neighbor. With this view he support- 
ed Nicomedes in his rebellion against his father, and helped 
to establish him in his kingdom. A quiet time followed, 
which Attains devoted to the strengthening of his power 
by the building of new cities, and to the encouragement of 
literature and art. Becoming infirm as he approached his 
eightieth year, he devolved the cares of the government on 
his minister, Philopoemen, who became the real ruler of the 
country. Finally, at the age of eighty-two, Philadelphus 
died, leaving the crown to his nephew and ward, Attains, 
the son of Eumenes II., who must have been now about 
thirty years old. 

Among the cities built by Philadelphus were Eumeneia in Phrygia, Phil- 
adelpheia in Lydia, and Attaleia in Pamphylia. He is said to have given 
100 talents (nearly £25,000) for a picture, and to have offered for another 
600,000 sesterces (£4375). He greatly augmented the library commenced 
by his predecessor. Crates of Mallus belongs mainly to his reign. 

7. Attalus III, the son of Eumenes II., on ascending the 
throne took the name of Philometor, in honor of his mother, 
Reign of Atta- Stratonice, the daughter of Ariarathes, king of 
ometw/jB^'cl Cappadocia. He reigned five years only, from 
138-133. j3(._ 138 to 133; yet into this short space he 

crowded more crimes and odious actions than are ascribed 
to all the other kings of his house put together. He con- 
demned to death without trial all the old counsellors and 
friends of his father and uncle, and at the same time de- 
stroyed their families. He then caused to be assassinated 
almost all those who held any office of trust in the kingdom. 
Finally, he turned against his own relations, and even put to 
death his mother, for whom he had professed a warm afiTec- 
tion. At length remorse seized him, and he abandoned the 
cares of state, devoting himself to painting, sculpture, and 
gardening, on which last subject he wrote a work. He died 
of a fever^ brought on, it is said, by a sun-stroke ; and, by a 
will as strange as his conduct, left the Roman People his 
heir. 



320 LESSER KINGDOMS. [book iv. 

8. Rome readily accepted the legacy ; but Aristonicus, a 

bastard son of Eumenes II., boldly disputed the prize with 

, ^ . them, claimini^ the kinfrdom as his natural inher- 

Eeis'n of Ans- . ' ^ n t i 

tourcus,B.o. itance. He compelled the cities to acknowledge 
him, which had at first refused through fear of 
the Romans ; and when Licinius Crassus was sent to take 
forcible possession of the country, Aristonicus defeated him, 
and took him prisoner, b.c. 131. In the year following, how- 
ever, Aristonicus was himself defeated and made prisoner by 
Peperna ; and the kingdom of Pergamus became shortly af- 
terwards a Roman province. 

On the history of Pergamus, see the Essay of the Abhe Sevin, Recherches 
sur les Rots de Pergame, in the Memoires de V Acadhiiie des Inscriptions, vol. 
xii. Paris, 1729 ; 4to. And Clinton's Kings of Pergamus, in his Fasti 
Hellenici, vol. iii. Appendix, chap. vi. 

On the remains of the ancient town, see Choiseul-Gouffier, Voyage 
Pittoresque de la Grece. Paris, 1782-1809; 2 vols, folio; and Arundell, 
Visit to the Seven Churches in Asia. London, 1828 ; 8vo. 



II. KINGDOM OF BITHYNIA. 

1. Though Bithynia was conquered by Croesus (supra, p. 
52), and submitted readily to Cyrus, when he absorbed the 
Semi-inde- I^y^^^i^n empire into his own dominions, yet we 
pendent kings find, somewhat carlv in the Persian period, that 

nuder the Per- . . . 

siaus,i}.c.43o- the countiy is governed by native kings, who are 
not unfrequently at war with the satraps of Asia 
Minor. The first of these semi-independent monarchs is 
Dydalsus, who must have been contemporary Avith the earli- 
er part of the Peloponnesian War. He was succeeded by 
Boteiras, probably the opponent of Pharnabazus (about b.c. 
400), who left the crown to his son,Bas,B.c. 376. This king, 
the last under the Persians, held the throne for the long term 
of fifty years, and thus saw the commencement of the new 
state of things under the Macedonians. 

2. With the dissolution of the Persian empire, which Al- 
exander's conquests brought about, Bithynia acquired com- 
ReignofBas, pletc independence. Bas successfully resisted 
B.C.37C-326. ^jjg attempts which Alexander made by his gen- 
eral Carantus (Caranus ?) to reduce him, and at his death, in 
B.C. 326, he left to his son, Zipcetes, a flourishing and wholly 
autonomous kinojdom. 



PEK. III., PART IV.] BITHYNIA. 321 

3. Zipcetes, the son and successor of Bas, successfully 
maintained the independence, which he had inherited, 

asjainst the fTttacks of Lysimachus and Antiochus 

EeignofZi- » i ., i , t i ^ i • . • t • 

poetes, B.C. boter, while he threatened the Greek cities m ins 
^^^~^' ' neighborhood, Heracleia Pontica, Astacus, and 

Chalcedon. He reigned forty-eight years, from e.g. 326 to 
B.C. 278, and left behind him four sons, Nicomedes, Zipcetes, 
and two others. 

Following the example of the contemporary Macedonian monarchs, Zipce- 
tes built himself a new capital, which he called after his own name — Zipoe- 
tium under Mount Lyperas. 

4. It would seem that, at the death of Zipcetes, a dispute 
concerning the succession arose between two of his sons. 
Reigia of Nic- The eldest of them, Nicomedes, finding himself in 
2mo^about°" tlanger of losing the kingdom to Zipcetes, his 
248. younger brother, invited the Gauls to cross over 
from Europe to his assistance, and by their aid defeated his 
brother and fully established his authority. He repelled by 
the same aid an attack on his independence made by Antio- 
chus I. Nothing more is known of Nicomedes, except that 
he founded Nicomedeia on the Gulf of Astacus, and that he 
married two wives, Ditizele and Etazeta, by the former of 
whom he had a single son, Zeilas, while by the latter he had 
three children, Prusias, Tiboetes, and Lysandra, to whom, for 
their mother's sake, he desired to leave his kingdom. 

5. Zeilas, who was living as an exile in Armenia, having 
obtained the services of a band of Gauls, entered Bithynia, 

. and established his authority by a war in which 
las, about u.c. he frequently defeated the partisans of his half- 

248— 2''*8 i ./ X 

brothers. Very little is known of his history ; 
but we may gather from some passages that he carried on 
successful wars with Paphlagonia and Cappadocia, in both 
of which countries he founded cities. He reigned about 
twenty years, and finally perished in an attempt which he 
made to destroy by treachery a number of Gallic chiefs at a 
banquet. He was succeeded by his son, Prusias. 

6. Prusias I., known as " Prusias the Lame," ascended the 
throne probably about b.c. 228, and held it at least forty-five 

years. The earlier years of his reign were un- 
Bias L, about eventful; but, irom about b.c. 220 nearly to his 
B.0. 228-180. ^gj^^jj^ jjg ^j^g engaged in a series of important 

14* 



322 LESSER KINGDOMS. [book iv. 

wars, and brought into contact with some of the chief pow- 
ers of Asia and Europe. By his unceasing energy he ex- 
tended his dominions in several directions, and would have 
raised Bithynia into one of the most important of the Asiatic 
kingdoms, had he not unfortunately given offense to the Ro- 
mans, first, by attacking their ally, Eumenes of Pergamus, 
and, secondly, by sheltering Hannibal. Not content with 
extorting the consent of Prusias to the surrender of the Car- 
thaginian refugee, who was thereby driven to put an end to 
his own life, Rome, under the threat of war, compelled the 
Bithynian monarch to cede to Eumenes the whole of the 
Hellespontine Phrygia. He compensated himself to some 
extent by attacking Heracleia Pontica; but here he re- 
ceived the wound from which he derived his surname of 
" the Lame," and shortly after this he died, leaving the 
crown to a son called, like himself, Prusias. 

Details or this Reign. Prusias assists Rhodes against Byzantium, b.c. 
220. Tibcetes, his uncle, is moved to assert his claims to the Bithynian crown ; 
but, while on his way to do so, dies, b.c. 219. Prusias sends rich presents to 
the Rhodians after the destruction of their city by an earthquake, b.c. 217. 
Gains a great victory over the Gauls, b.c. 216. Joins Philip of Macedon in 
his first war against Rome, and attacks the territories of Attains, who is 
thereby forced to return to Asia, B.C. 208. Between the first and second 
Macedonian War joins Philip in the siege of Cius, which he takes and keeps, 
changing its name to Prusa. At the same time, B.C. 203, he takes Myrleia 
and calls it Apameia, after his wife. From the second Macedonian War, 
and from the war between Rome and Antiochus the Great, he stands aloof ; 
but after the Romans have withdrawn, b.c 188, he ventures to attack, and, 
by Hannibal's help, defeats Eumenes. Rome hereupon interposes, demands 
Hannibal, b.c. 183, and makes Prusias compensate Eumenes by the cession 
of a province. Prusias then goes to war with Heracleia Pontica, and takes 
Cierus and Tius, but is wounded and soon afterwards dies, about b.c. 180. 

1. Prusias H., the son and successor of Prusias I., was 
the most wicked and contemptible of the Bithynian mon- 
ReiOTofPru- ^^'^^^^' Though he had married, at his own re- 
pias II., B.O. quest, the sister of the Macedonian kinar, Per- 

180-149. 

sens, yet, when that monarch was attacked by 
the Romans, he lent him no aid, only venturing once, b.c. 
169, to intercede for his brother-in-law by an embassy. 
When victory declared itself on the Roman side, he made 
the most abject submission, and thus obtained the assent of 
Rome to his retention of his kingdom. Like his father, he 



PER. III., PART IV.] BITHYNIA. " 323 

lived on bad terms with Eumenes ; and, when that king died 
and was succeeded by Attains II., he ventured to begin a 
war, B.C. 156, which would certainly have been successful, 
had the Romans abstained from interference. They, how- 
ever, by threats induced Prusias to consent to a peace, by 
which he relinquished the fruits of his victories, and even 
engaged to pay to Attains the sum of 500 talents. Mean- 
while, he had alienated the affections of his subjects by his 
cruelties and impieties, while Nicomedes, his son, had con- 
ciliated their regard. Viewing, therefore, his son as a rival, 
Prusias first sent him to Rome, and then gave orders that 
he should be assassinated. But his emissary betrayed him; 
and Nicomedes, learning his danger, with the connivance of 
the Senate, quitted Rome and returned as a pretender to his 
own country. There, being openly supported by Attains, 
and known to have the good wishes of the Romans, he was 
received with general favor ; and, having besieged his father 
in Nicomedeia, obtained possession of his person and put him 
to death, b.c. 149. 

8. Nicomedes II., who now mounted the throne, followed 
the example of the Syrian and Egyptian kings in assuming 
Rei^nofNic *^^® ^^^^^ of " Epiphancs," or "Illustrious." He 
ome(iesii., reigned fifty-eight years, from b.c. 149 to 91, and 
took an active part in the wars which at this 
time desolated Asia Minor. It was his object to stand well 
with the Romans, and hence he willingly sent a contingent 
to their aid when they w^arred with Aristonicus of Perga- 
mus (see p. 320), b.c. 133 to 130, and, professedly at any rate, 
rendered obedience to the various commands which they ad- 
dressed to him. Still he made several attempts, all of them 
more or less displeasing to Rome, at increasing the power 
and extent of his kingdom. In b.c. 102 he attacked Paphla- 
gonia in combination with Mithridates the Great, and took 
possession of a portion of it. Required by Rome to restore 
his conquest to the legitimate heir, he handed it over to one 
of his own sons, whom he pretended to be a Paphlagonian 
prince, and made him take the name of Pylaemenes. Shortly 
afterwards, b.c. 96, when Mithridates endeavored to annex 
Cappadocia, and Laodice, the widow of the late king, fled to 
him, he married her, and, warmly espousing her cause, estab- 
lished her as queen in Cappadocia; whence, however, she 



324 LESSEK KINGDOMS. [book iv. 

was shortly expelled by Mithridates. Finally, in b.c. 93, af- 
ter the deaths of the two sons of Laodice, he brought for- 
ward an impostor, who claimed to be also her son, and en- 
deavored to obtain for him the crown of Cai^padocia. Here, 
however, he overreached himself The imposture was de- 
tected ; and Rome not only refused to admit the title of his 
protege to the Cappadocian crown, but required him likewise 
to abandon possession of Paphlagonia, which was to be re- 
stored to independence. Soon after this, the long reign of 
Nicomedes II. came to an end. His age at his decease can 
not have been much less than eighty. 

9. Nicomedes II. left behind him two sons, Nicomedes 
and Socrates, who was surnamed "the Good" (Xjot^otoc). 
Eeit^nofNic- ^icomedcs, wlio was the elder of the two, suc- 
ome'des III., cccded, and is known as Nicomedes III. He 

i$.c. 91-74. 

took the titles of "Epiphanes" and "Philopa- 
tor." Scarcely was he seated on the throne when, at the 
instigation of Mithridates, his brother Socrates, accusing him 
of illegitimacy, claimed the kingdom, and, with the aid of 
an army which Mithridates furnished, drove Nicomedes out, 
and assumed the crown. Kome, however, in the next year, 
13.C. 90, by a simple decree reinstated Nicomedes, who pro- 
ceeded, in B.C. 89, to retaliate upon Mithridates by plunder- 
ing incursions into his territories. Thus provoked, Mithri- 
dates, in B.C. 88, collected a vast army, defeated Nicomedes 
on the Amneius, and drove him with his lioman allies out of 
Asia. The first Mithridatic War followed ; and at its close, 
in B.C. 84, Nicomedes was restored to his kingdom for the 
second time, and had a tranquil reign after this for the space 
often years. Dying without issue, in b.c. 74, he left by will 
his kingdom to the Romans — a legacy which brought about 
the third and greatest "Mithridatic War." 

The history of the kings of Bithynia has been treated of separately by sev- 
eral writers. Among them may be noticed : 

Sevin, Recherches sur les Rois de Bithynie, in the Memoires de VAcade- 
mie des Inscriptions, vol. xv. 

Fot-Vaillant, J., Regum Bithynioi Historia, in his Achcemenidarum Ivi- 
perium. Paris, 1725 ; 4to. 

Clinton, II. F., Kings of Bithynia^ in his Fasti Hellenici, vol. iii., Appen- 
dix, chap. vii. 



PER. III., PART IV.] PArilLAGONIA. 325 



III. KINGDOM OF PAPHLAGONIA. 

1. Like Bithynia, Pai^hlagonia became semi-independent 
under the Achaemenian monarchs. As early as b.c. 400, the 

rulers of the country are said to have paid very 
thelersiau*^ little regard to the Great King's orders; and in 
penod. ^^ gg^ ^^g ^^^ ^YiQ monarch, Cotys, allying him- 

self with Agesilails against Persia. Thirty or forty years 
later another king is mentioned as reduced by the Persian 
satrap, Datames. On the dissolution of the Persian empire, 
Paphlagonia was attached to his dominions by Mithridates 
of Pontus, and it continued for a considerable time to be a 
portion of the Pontic kingdom. 

Early Paphlagonian Kings : — 1. Corylas, about e.g. 400, allows the 
Ten Thousand to pass through his country. 2. Cotys, or Otys, makes alli- 
ance with Agesilaiis, and assists him in his war with Pharnabazus, B.C. 394. 
3. Thyus, or Thys, noted for the magnificence of his entertainments, is at- 
tacked by Datames, at the command of Artaxerxes Mnemon, made prisoner, 
and carried to the court, where he continues to live in extraordinary splen- 
dor, about B.C. 375 to 365. 

2. The circumstances under which, and the time when, 
Paphlagonia regained its independence, are unknown to us ; 
but, soon after b.c. 200, we find the throne once more occu- 
pied by native monarchs, who are entangled in the wars of 
the period. These princes have a difficulty in maintaining 
themselves against the monarchs of Pontus on the one hand, 
and those of Bithynia on the other; but they nevertheless 
hold the throne till B.C. 102, when, the last native king, Py- 
Isemenes I., dying without issue, Mithridates the Great and 
Nicomedes II. conjointly seize the country, and the latter es- 
tablishes on the throne one of his own sons, who rules for 
about eight years, when Mithridates exj)els him and takes 
possession of the whole territory. 

Later Paphlagonian Kings : — 1. Morzes or Morzias, fights against the 
Romans in the Gallo-Grecian War, b.c. 189. Is attacked and conquered by 
Phai-naces, about b.c. 181, but reinstated in his dominions and compensated 
in B.C. 179. 2. Pylaemenes I. assists the Romans in their war against Aris- 
tonicus of Pergamus, b.c. 131. Said to have bequeathed his kingdom to 
Mithridates. 3. Pylremenes II., the son of Nicomedes II., of Bithynia. 
Placed on the throne by his father, b.c. 102. Forced to retire, about b.c. 90. 



326 LESSER KINGDOMS. [book jv. 

IV. KINGDOM OF PONTUS. 

1. The satrapy of Cappadocia appears to have been con- 
ferred by Darius liystaspis as an hereditary fief on Otanes, 
Fouuciationof ^^^® of the seven conspirators, who was descended 
the kiii^dom from the ancient Arian kinoes of Cappadocia. It 

by Anobar- . . ° ^ ^ 

zanesL,«.o. Continued to form a smejle provmce of the em- 

363 • 

pire, and to be governed by satraps descended 
from Otanes, till the year b.c. 363, when Ariobarzanes, the 
son of the Mithridates who was satrap in the time of Xeno- 
phon, rebelled, and made himself king of the portion of Cap- 
padocia which lay along the coast, and which was thence 
called " Pontus " by the Greeks. Inland Cappadocia contin- 
ued to be a province of Persia. Ariobarzanes reigned twen- 
ty-six years, from b.c. 363 to 337, when he was succeeded by 
his son, Mithridates I. (commonly called Mithridates II.), 
who held the kingdom at the time of the Macedonian inva- 
sion. 

2. Mithridates I, who ascended the throne b.c. 337, seems 
to have remained neutral during the contest between Darius 
Reign of Mith- Codomannus and Alexander. On the reduction 
337-302^" '""*'* ^^ Cappadocia by Perdiccas, b.c. 322, he was, 

however, compelled to submit to the Macedoni- 
ans, after which he enjoyed for a time the favor of Antigo- 
nus and helped him in his wars. But Antigonus, growing 
jealous of him, basely plotted his death ; whereupon he re- 
turned to Pontus and resumed a separate sovereignty, about 
B.C. 318. In B.C. 317 he supported Eumenes against Antigo- 
nus; and in b.c. 302 he was about to join the league of the 
satraps against the same monarch, when Antigonus, suspect- 
ing his intention, caused him to be assassinated. 

3. Mithridates IL, the son of Mithridates I., succeeded. 
He added considerably to his hereditary dominions by the 
Reif'nofMith- acquisition of parts of Cappadocia and Paphlago- 
ricLatesii.,i5.c. nia, and even ventured to conclude an alliance 

with the Greeks of Heracleia Pontica, b,c. 281, 
whom he undertook to defend against Seleucus. According 
to Diodorus, he reigned thirty-six years, from b.c. 302 to 266. 
He left the crown to his son, Ariobarzanes. 

4. Ariobarzanes II., who appears to have reigned about 
twenty-one years, from b.c. 266 to 245, did little to distin- 



PER. III., I'ART IV.] PONTUS. 327 

TJeignofArio- guish liimself. He repulsed an attack of Ptole- 
i^-STto"'' ^^J (Euergetes ?) by the assistance of the Gauls, 
about 246. i3^t aftcrwarcls quarrelled with that fickle people, 
whose close neighborhood was very injurious to his king- 
dom. He also obtained possession of the town of Amastris 
upon the Euxine, which was surrendered to him by Eume- 
nes, its dynast. On his death he was succeeded by his son, 
Mithridates, who was a minor. 

5. Mithridates HI., the most distinguished of the earlier 
Pontic monarchs, made it his object to strengthen and aug- 
ReignofMith- mcnt his kingdom by alliances Avith the other 
aWB?"245- monarchs and princes of Asia, rather than by 
i^<^- warfare. As soon as he had attained to man- 
hood, he married a sister of Seleucus Callinicus, with whom 
he received the province of Phrygia as a dowry. In b.c. 
222, he gave his daughter, Laodice, in marriage to Antiochus 
the Great, the son of Callinicus, and at the same time mar- 
ried another daughter, called also Laodice, to Achaeus, the 
cousin of Antiochus. He did not allow these connections, 
however, to fetter his political action. In the war between 
Seleucus Callinicus and Antiochus Hierax, he sided with the 
latter, and on one occasion he inflicted a most severe defeat 
upon his brother-in-law, who lost 20,000 men. In b.c. 220, 
he turned his arms against the Greeks of Sinope, but this 
town, which was assisted by the Rhodians, appears to have 
maintained itself against his efforts. It is uncertain how 
long Mithridates HI. reigned, but the conjecture is reason- 
able that he died about b.c. 190. 

6. He was succeeded on the throne by his son, PJiarnaces, 
who conquered Sinope, and made it the royal residence, 

^^o^it ^-c. 183. This kinsj soon afterwards in- 

IleagnoiPnai- i t i • i^ . 

nacesL.about volvcd hmiselt m a war with Eumenes of Persra- 

u.c. 190-lGO. / o-.o\ ^ 1 1 1 

mus (see p. 318), of whose greatly augmented 
power he had naturally become jealous. Rome endeavored 
to hindef hostilities from breaking oi^t, but in b.c. 181 Phar- 
naces took the field, overran Paphlagonia, expelling the king, 
Morzes or Morzias, and poured his troops into Cappadocia 
and Galatia. At first^he met with considerable success; 
but after a Avhile the tide turned, and in b.c. 179 he was glad 
to make peace on condition of giving up all his conquests 
except the town of Sinope. After this we hear nothing 



328 LESSER KINGDOMS. [book iv. 

more of him ; but he seems to have lived some considerable 
time longer, probably till about B.C. 160. 

7. Pharnaces I. was succeeded by his son, Mithridates, 
who took the name of " Euergetes," and reigned about forty 
Reign ofMitii- ycars, from near b.c. 160 to 120. He entered into 
about B.^aiGo- alliance with Attalus II., king of Pergamus, and 
^-^- lent him imj^ortant assistance in his wars with 
Prusias 11. of Bithynia, b.c. 154. A few years later he made 
alliance with Rome, and sent a contingent to bear a part in 
the Third Punic War, b.c. 150 to 146. He likewise assisted 
Rome in the war against Aristonicus, b.c. 131, and at its 
close received the Greater Phrygia as the reward of his 
services. His end was tragical. About b.c. 120, his OAvn 
immediate attendants conspired against him, and assassin- 
ated him at Sinope, where he held his court. 

8. Mithridates, the elder of his two sons, succeeded, and 
took the title of "Eupator," for which, however, modern 
Reign of Mith- historians have generally substituted the more 
G?elt)!l;)!^^^ high-sounding epithet of "the Great." He was 
120-64. undoubtedly the most able of all the Pontic 
kings, and. will bear comparison with any of the Asiatic 
monarchs since Darius Ilystaspis. Ascending the throne 
while he was still a minor, and intrusted to guardians 
whom he suspected, it was not till about b.c. 112 that he 
could undertake any important enterprise. But the interval 
of about eight years was well employed in the training of 
his own mind and body — the former by the study of lan- 
guages, whereof he is said to have spoken twenty-five; the 
latter bji perpetual hunting exj)editions in the roughest and 
most remote regions. On reaching the age of twenty, and 
assuming the conduct of affairs, he seems to have realized at 
once the danger of his position as ruler of a petty kingdom, 
which must, by its position upon her borders, be almost im- 
mediately attacked by Rome, and could not be expected to 
make any effectual resistance. Already, during his fninority, 
the grasping republic had seized his province of Phrygia; 
and this was felt to be merely a foretaste of the indignities 
and injuries with which, so long as«he was weak, he would 
have to put up. Mithridates therefore determined, not un- 
wisely, to seek to strengthen his kingdom, and to raise it 
into a condition in which it might be a match for Rome. 



PER. III., PART IV.] PONTUS. 329 

With this object, in b,c..112, he boldly started forth on a 
career of Eastern conquest. Here Rome could not interfere 
TT. _, with him; and in the space of about seven years 

Hisconquests. , , ^ ' , , . , ^ . . , ,- / 

he had added to his domniions the Lesser Arme- 
nia, Colchis, the entire eastern coast of the Black Sea, the 
Chersonesus Taurica, or kingdom of the Bosporus (the mod- 
ern Crimea), and even the whole tract westward from that 
point to the Tyras, or Dniester. Having thus enlarged his 
dominions, and having" further strengthened himself by alli- 
ances with the wild tribes on the Danube, Gette, Sarmata?, 
and others, whom he hoped one day to launch upon Italy, 
he returned to Asia Minor, and commenced a series of in- 
trigues and intermarriages, calculated to give him greater 
power in this quarter. 

Marriage of Mithridates's sister, Laodice, to Ariaratlies VI., king of Cappa- 
docia, probably in the early part of his reign, about u.c. 120 to 115. Mar- 
riage of his daughter, Cleopatra, to Tigranes, king of the Greater Armenia, 
about B.C. 96. Alliance with Nicomedes II. of Bithj-nia, for the partition of 
Paphlagonia, B.C. 102. Occupation of Galatia the same year. First seizure 
of Cappadocia, and consequent war with Nicomedes (see p. 323), B.C. 96. 
Nicomedes defeated, and Ariarathes VII., son of Ariarathes VI. and Laodice, 
set up. Quarrel picked Avith this prince by Mithridates, Avho invites him to 
a conference and murders him, about b.c. 94. Attempt to establish his own 
son on the Cappadocian throne fails, b.c. 93. Attempt to place Socrates on 
the throne of Bithynia, b.c. 90, also fails. 

9. Although it must have been evident, both to the Ro- 
mans and to Mithridates, that peace between them could 
Rupture with not be maintained much longer, yet neither party 
FhStWaJfB.o. was as yet prepared for an actual rupture. The 
88-84. ' hands of Rome w^ere tied by the condition of Ita- 
ly, where the " Social War " impended ; and Mithridates re- 
garded it as prudent to temporize a little longer. He there- 
fore submitted, in b.c. 92, to the decree of the Roman Sen- 
ate, which assigned Cappadocia to a native monarch, Ario- 
barzanes, and in b.c. 90 to another decree which reinstated 
Nicomedes on the throne of Bithynia. When, however, in 
the following year, Nicomedes, encouraged by the Romans, 
proceeded to invade the Pontic kingdom, and the demand 
which Mithridates made for redress produced no result, it 
seemed to him that the time was come when he must change 
his policy, and, laying aside all pretense of friendliness, com- 
mence the actual struggle. 



330 LESSER KINGDOMS. [book iv. 

First Roman War. The war began, b.c, 88, with the invasion of Cap- 
padocia by Mithridates, who took possession of the countiy and drove out 
Ariobarzanes. Bithynia was then invaded, and the forces of Nicomedes 
were completely routed on the Amneius. His Roman allies also suffered a 
severe defeat. Mithridates overran Galatia, Phrygia, and even the Roman 
province of Asia, becoming master of all Asia Minor except a few towns in 
Lycia and Ionia. Having taken up his winter-quarters at Pergamus, he 
gave the fatal order that all Romans and Italians in Asia should on one day 
be massacred — an order which was generally obeyed, and which caused the 
death of 80,000 persons. The next year, b.c. 87, Mithridates sent his gen- 
eral, Archelaiis, with a powerful fleet and army, into Greece ; and in b.c. 86 
he sent a second army to reinforce the first under Taxilas. But the Romans 
under Sulla totally defeated the entire combined force at Chceroneia in the 
same year, and Mithridates had to send over a third army, which he placed 
under the command of Dorylaiis. Hitherto the Pontic prince had been the 
assailant, and had kept the war in the enemy's country, but now a change 
occurred. A second Roman army under Fimbria, a Marian partisan, took 
the field, and carrying the war into Asia, made Mithridates tremble for his 
own territory. His generals lost a great battle in Bithynia, b.c. 85, and he 
himself, forced to become a fugitive, with difficulty avoided falling into his 
enemies' hands. Soon afterwards Archelaiis and Dorylaiis suffered a severe 
reverse in Greece ; and Mithridates felt himself obliged to sue for peace. 
The first negotiation was unsuccessful; but in b.c. 84 tenns were agreed 
upon. The Pontic prince surrendered all his conquests, agreed to pay a sum 
of 2000 talents (nearly half a million sterling) to indemnify Rome for the 
cost of tliQ war, and also delivered into the victor's hands a fleet of seventy 
ships. Nicomedes and Ariobarzanes were restored to their kingdoms, and 
the Roman authority was re-established in the province of "Asia." 

10. The disasters suffered by Mithridates in the Roman 
War encouraged the nations which he had subjected in the 
Revolts, aud East to revolt. The kingdom of the Bosporus 
man w^^B.c. ^hrcw off its allegiance, the Colchians rebelled, 
83-S2. and other nations in the same quarter showed 

symptoms of disaifection. Mithridates -proceeded to collect 
a large fleet and army for the reduction of the rebels, when 
his enterprise had to be relinquished on account of a second 
and wholly unprovoked Roman War. Murena, the Roman 
commander in Asia, suddenly attacked him, almost without 
a pretext, b.c. 83 ; and it was not till the close of the follow- 
ing year that peace was re-established. 

Second Roman War. Murena invades Pontus at the instigation of 
Archelaiis, who, having incurred the suspicion of ill-faith, had fled from the 
court of his master and been received with honor by the Romans. Mithri- 
dates makes no resistance, but sends to Rome to complain, b.c. 83. The 
Senate by a legate commands Murena to desist ; but, disregarding the in- 
junction, he prepares for a second invasion. Mithridates meets him on the 



PER. III., PART I V.J PONTUS. 331 

banks of the Halys, and gains a complete victory. Murena escapes with 
difficulty into Phvygia, while Cappadocia is occupied by Mithridates. The 
Senate now sends a second legate, and peace is restored, Mithridates once 
more evacuating Cappadocia, u.c. 82. 

11. The conclusion of the Second Roman War allowed 
Mithridates to complete the reduction of his revolted sub- 
jects, which he accomplished without much diffi- 

forthe'fiuai culty between the years b.c. 81 and 74. He suf- 
strugg e. fered, however, during this interval, some heavy 
losses in an attempt which he made to subdue the Achseans 
of the Caucasus. But it was not so much in wars as in 
preparations for war that the Pontic monarch employed the 
breathing-space allowed him by the Romans after the failure 
of the attack of Murena. Vast efforts w^ere made by him to 
collect and discipline a formidable army ; troops were gath- 
ered from all quarters, even from the banks of the Danube ; 
the Roman arms and training were adopted ; fresh alliances 
were concluded or attempted ; the fleet w^as raised to the 
number of 400 triremes ; nothing was left undone that care 
or energy could accomplish towards the construction of a 
power which might fairly hope to hold its own when the 
time for a final trial of strength with Rome should arrive. 

Alliance of Mithridates with Sertorius, about b.c. 75. Renewal of the al- 
liance wath Tigranes. Attempts to conclude treaties with Phraates, king of 
Parthia, and with various Scythic chiefs. Sarmatians, Scyths, and Bastainae 
are induced to serve in the Pontic army. 

12. The armed truce might have continued some years 
longer, for Mithridates still hoped to increase his power, and 
Breaking out Rome was occupicd by the war in Spain against 
Romai^war, tbe rebel Sertorius, had not the death of Nico- 
B.c. 74. medes III, king of Bithynia, in b.c. 74, brought 
about a crisis. That monarch, having no issue, followed the 
example of Attains, king of Pergamus, in leaving his domin- 
ions by will to the Roman people. Had Mithridates allow- 
ed Rome to take possession, the Pontic kingdom would have 
been laid open to attack along the whole of its western bor- 
der ; Rome would have been brought within five days' march 
of Sinope ; and thus the position of Pontus, when war broke 
out, would have been greatly weakened. Mithridates there- 
fore resolved to seize Bithynia before Rome could occupy it. 
But this act was equivalent to a declaration of war, since the 



332 LESSER KINGDOMS. [book iv. 

honor of the great republic could not allow of her tamely 
submittmg to the seizure of what she regarded as her own 
property. 

13. The Third War of Mithridates with Rome, which 
broke out in b.c. 74, was protracted to b.c. 65, and thus last- 
General ed nearly nine years. The scene of the war was 
wan^ Causers Asia. Its result was scarcely doubtful from the 
of ShlSr^'' fii'st, for the Asiatic levies of Mithridates, though 
mans. armed after the Roman fashion and disciplined to 
a certain extent, were no match for the trained veterans of 
the Roman legions. The protraction of the war was owing, 
in the first place, to the genius and energy of the Pontic 
monarch, who created army after army, and who gradually 
learnt the wisdom of avoiding pitched battles, and wasting 
the power of the enemy by cutting off his supplies, falling 
on his detachments, entangling him in difficult ground, and 
otherwise harassing and annoying him. It was further ow- 
ing to the i3articipation in it of a new foe, Tigranes, who 
brought to the aid of his neighbor and connection a force 
exceeding his own, and very considerable resources. Rome 
was barely capable of contending at one and the same time 
with two such kingdoms as those of Pontus and Armenia ; 
and up to the close of b.c. 67, though her generals had gain- 
ed many signal victories, she had made no great impression 
on either of her two adversaries. The war, if conducted 
without any change of plan, might still have continued for 
another decade of years, before the power of resistance pos- 
sessed by the two kings would have been exhausted. But 
the genius of Pompey devised a scheme by which an imme- 
diate and decisive result was made attainable. His treaty 
with Phraates, king of Parthia, brought a new power into 
the field — a power fully capable of turning the balance in 
favor of the side whereto it attached itself. The attitude of 
Phraates at the opening of the campaign of b.c. 66 paralyzed 
Tigranes ; and the Pontic monarch, deprived of the succors 
on which he had hitherto greatly depended, though he still 
resisted, and even fought a battle against his new antago- 
nist, was completely and manifestly overmatched. Defeat- 
ed near the Armenian border by the Romans under Pom- 
pey, and forbidden to seek a refuge in Armenia by his timid 
and suspicious brother-in-law, he had no choice but to yield 



PER. III., PART IV.] PONTUS. 333 

his home dominions to tlie victor, and to retire to those re- 
mote territories of which he had become possessed by con- 
quest. Even Pompey shrank from following his beaten foe 
into these inhospitable regions, and with the passage of 
Mithridates across the river Phasis, his third war with Rome 
came to an end. 

Details of the War. b.c. 74. Advance of Mithridates through Bi- 
thynia. His victory over Cotta. Sieges of Chalcedon and Cyzicus. — B.C. 
73. Siege of Cyzicus abandoned. Great losses of Mithridates. His army 
defeated by LucuUus. Double defeat of his fleet. He, however, takes Hera- 
cleia Pontica, and, returning to his capital, raises a fresh army, and takes up 
a position at Cabeira. — B.C. 72. Lucullus besieges Amisus, but when Mithri- 
dates does not move to its relief, he raises the siege and marches upon Ca- 
beira. Numerous partial encounters follow. At length Mithridates deter- 
mines to move his camp, whereupon a panic ensues ; his army is attacked 
and routed, and he himself with difiiculty escapes and flies to Tigranes, in 
Armenia. — b.c. 71 to 70. A pause in the war now occurs, while the Komans 
endeavor to persuade Tigranes to surrender Mithridates. On his final re- 
fusal, B.C. 70, he too is declared a public enemy, and the war is transferred 
into his territories. — B.C. 69. Great victory of Lucullus over Tigranes, near 
Tigranocerta, and capture of that city. Ineffectual appeal of Mithridates to 
the Parthian king, Phraates. — b.c. 68. Second victory of Lucullus over Ti- 
granes and Mithridates at Artaxata. Siege of Nisibis. Mitliridates returns 
with an army to Pontus, defeats Fabius, and shuts him up in Cabeira.— B.C. 
67. Great victory of Mithridates over Triarius : 7000 Romans slain. Action 
of Lucullus paralyzed by the disaifection of his soldiers. Mithridates and 
Tigranes recover Pontus and Cappadocia. — B.C. 66. Lucullus recalled, and 
Pompey sent into Asia. Treaty of friendship and alliance made with Phraa- 
tes. Tigranes devotes all his efforts to the defense of his southern frontier. 
Mithridates retreats before Pompey, but is compelled to fight at great disad- 
vantage, and loses almost his whole army. He flies to Synoria, where he 
once more collects a force, and prepares to move into Armenia ; but Tigranes 
declines to receive him, and he therefore retreats eastward, crosses the Pliasis 
and winters at Dioscurias, in the modern Mingrelia. The war now comes to 
an end, though no peace is made, Mithridates having practically relinquished 
his kingdom and withdrawn to regions whither Rome does not care to follow 
him. 

14. Mithridates, in b.c. 65, retreated from Dioscurias to 
Panticapseum, and established himself in the old kingdom of 
the Bosporus. Such a principality was, however, too narrow 
for his ambition. Having vainly attempted to come to 
terms with Pompey, he formed the wild design of renewing 
the struggle with Rome by attacking her in a new quarter. 
It was his intention to proceed westward round the Euro- 
pean side of the Black Sea, and to throw himself upon the 



© 



334 LESSER KINGDOMS. [book iv. 

Roman frontier, perhaps even to march upon Italy. But nei- 
ther his soldiers nor his near relatives were willing to em- 
bark in so wild a project. Its announcement caused general 
disaffection, which at last ended in conspiracy. His own 
son, Pharnaces, headed the malcontents ; and the aged mon- 
arch, finding no suj^port in any quarter, caused himself to bo 
dispatched by one of his guards, b.c. 63. The bulk of Pon- 
tus became a Roman province, though a portion continued 
till the time of Nero to be ruled by jorinces belonging to the 
old royal stock. 

Among works on the kingdom of Pontus may be mentioned the following: 

Foy-Vaillant, J., Reges Ponti, in his Achcemenidarum Imperium (see p. 
324). 

WoLTERSDORF, J. E., Commentatio vitam Mithrfdatis Magni per annos 
digestam sistens. Gottingte, 1812. 

Clinton, H. E., Kings of Pontus, in his Fasti Hellenici, vol. iii., Appen- 
dix, chap. viii. 

V. KINGDOM OF CAPPADOCIA. 

1. After the division of the Cappadocian satrapy into two 
provinces, a northern and a southern (see p. 326), the latter 
Independence Continued Subject to Persia, the government be- 
AHa?athe^\, i"»5 howcvcr, hereditary in a branch of the same 
B.C. 331. family which had made itself independent in the 

northern province. The Datames and Ariamnes of Diodorus 
held this position, and are not to be regarded as independent 
kings. It was only when the successes of Alexander loosed 
the bands which held the Persian empire together (b.c. 331) 
that the satrap, Ariarathes, the son of Ariamnes, assumed the 
airs of independence, and, resisting the attack of Perdiccas, 
was by him defeated, made a prisoner, and crucified, b.c. 322. 

2 Perdiccas, having subjected Cappadocia, made over his 
conquest to Eumenes, who continued, nominally at any rate, 
Reign of Aii- its rulcr Until his death in b.c. 316. Cappadocia 
Siu B.c!' then revolted under Ariarathes II., the nephew of 
315-280. Ariarathes I, who defeated and slew the Macedo- 

nian general, Amyntas, expelled the foreign garrisons, and re- 
established the independence of his country. No attempt 
seems to have been made to dispossess him either by Antig- 
onus or Seleucus ; and Ariarathes left his crown to the eld- 
est of his sons, Ariamnes, probably about b.c. 280. 

3. The next two kings, Ariamnes, and his son, Ariarathes 



PER. 111., PART IV.] CAPPADOCIA. 335 

III., are little heard of in history : they appear to I}ave reigii- 
Rei<^usofAri- ^^ quietly but inglorioiisly. A friendly connec- 
aranes and tion between the royal houses of Cappadocia and 

Anarathes o • ^ ^• ^ t • • \> i 

III., about byria was established in the reign oi the lormer, 
who obtained as a wife for his much-loved son, 
Stratonice, the daughter of Antiochus Theus. The two 
reigns of Ariamnes and Ariarathes III. appear to have cov- 
ered a space of about sixty years, from b.c. 280 to 220. Ari- 
arathes III. left the crown to a son, bearing the same name, 
who Avas at the time of his father's death an infant. 

4. The reign of Ariarathes IV. is remarkable as being 
that which ended the comparative isolation of Cappadocia, 
^ . „ , . and brousrht the kinojdom into close relation with 

Reign of An- ^ ^ 

arathesiv., the Other monarchies of Asia Minor, and not only 
with them, but also with the great republic of 
the West. The history of Cappadocia is henceforth inextri- 
cably intermixed with that of the other kingdoms of West- 
ern Asia, and has been to a great extent anticipated in what 
has been said of them. Ariarathes IV., who was the first 
cousin of Antiochus the Great, married in b.c. 192 his daugh- 
ter Antiochis, and, being thus doubly connected with the 
Seleucid family, entered into close alliance with the Syrian 
king, assisted him in his war against Rome, and bore his 
part in the great battle of Magnesia by which the power of 
the Syrian empire was broken, b.c. 190. Having thus incur- 
red the hostility of the Romans, and at the same time become 
sensible of the greatness of their power, Ariarathes proceed- 
ed, in B.C. 188, to deprecate their wrath, and by an alliance 
with the Roman protege, Eumenes, which was cemented by a 
marriage, succeeded in appeasing the offended republic and 
obtained favorable terms. Ariarathes then assisted Eume- 
nes in his war with Pharnaces of Pontus, b.c. 183 to 1'79, af- 
ter which he was engaged in a prolonged quarrel with the 
Gauls of Galatia, who wished to annex a portion of his terri- 
tory. He continued on the most friendly terms with Rome 
from the conclusion of peace in b.c. 188 till his death in the 
Avinter of b.c. 163-2. His reign lasted fifty-eight years. • 

Ariarathes IV. must have been married at least twice. By his first wife 
he had a daughter, married to Eumenes of Pergamus, in B.C. 188. By his 
second, Antiocliis, the daughter of Antiochus the Great, lie had a son, Mith- 
ridates, who took the name of Ariarathes at his accession. He had also two 



,336 LESSER KINGDOMS. L^^^^i^ iv- 

other reputed sons by Antiochis, Ariarathes, and Holophernes or Orophernes, 
supposititious children whom Antiochis had imposed upon him when she 
thought herself barren. 

5. Ariarathes V., surnamed " Philopator " from the affec- 
tion which he bore his father, maintained the alliance be- 
Eei iiofAri- *^^^^^^ Cappadocia and Rome with great fidelity. 
arathesv., Solicited by Demetrius Soter to enter into alli- 
ance with him and to connect his family ^T-ith 

that of the Seleucidse once more by a marriage, he declined 
out of regard for Rome. Angered by his refusal, Demetrius 
set up against him the pretender, Orophernes, b.c. 158, and 
for a time deprived him of his kingdom. The Romans, how- 
ever, with the help of Attains II., restored him in the year 
following. After this Ariarathes lent Attains important aid 
in his war with Prusias of Bithynia, b.c. 156 to 154, and 
when Aristonicus attempted to resist the Roman occuj)ation 
of that province, b.c. 133, he joined the Romans in person, 
and lost his life in their cause, b.c. 131. 

The character of Ariarathes V. stands out in remarkable contrast to those 
of almost all his contemporaries. He was a student of philosophy, and made 
Cappadocia a residence of learned men. Out of respect for his father he 
would accept no share in the government during his lifetime. When Artax- 
ias of Armenia suggested to him an iniquitous appropriation of a neighboring 
kingdom, he not only declined the overture, but was indignant that it had 
been made to him. No cruel or perfidious deed of his doing is upon record. 
He conciliated the affection of his subjects and commanded the respect of his 
neighbors. The history of the three centuries after Alexander shows us no 
other monarch who led so pure and blameless a life. 

6. Ariarathes V. seems to have left behind him as many 
as six sons, none of whom, however, had reached maturity. 
Ref^ency of Laodice, therefore, the queen-mother, became re- 
Laodice, aud ^ent 1 and, beinoj an ambitious and unscrupulous 

reigu of An- ^ ' ' ^. . ^ ^ , 

aiathes VI., wouian, shc contrivcd to poison five out of her six 
sons before they were of age to reign, and so kept 
the government in her own hands. One, the youhgest, was 
preserved, like the Jewish king, Joash, by his near relatives ; 
and, after the death of Laodice, who fell a victim to the pop- 
ular indignation, he ascended the throne under the name of 
Ariarathes VI. Little is known of this king, except that he 
made alliance Avith Mithridates the Great, and married a sis- 
ter of that monarch, named also Laodice, about b.c. 115. By 
her he had two sons, both named Ariarathes. He Avas mur- 



riiu. III., TART IV.] CAPFADOCIA. 337 

derecl by an emissary of Mithridates, b.c. 96, when his sons 
were just growing into men. 

7. On the removal of Ariarathes VI. h*is dominions were 
seized by his brother-in-law, Mithridates, who designed to 
Rei^usofAri- assunie the rule of them himself; but Laodice, the 
arathes VII., ^yj^Qw of the late Mng, having called in the aid 
of Nicomedes II., king of Bithynia, whom she married, Mith- 
ridates, in order to retain his hold on Cappadocia, found it 

necessary to allow the country its own monarch 
thes viiL, and accordmgly set up as kmg, b.c. 96 or 95, Ari- 
li.c. 96-03. arathes VIL, elder son of Ariarathes VI., and con- 
sequently the legitimate monarch. This prince, however, 
showing himself too independent, Mithridates, in b.c. 94, in- 
vited him to a conference and slew him; after which he 
placed on the throne a son of his own, aged eight years, 
whose name he changed to Ariarathes. But the Cappado- 
cians rose in rebellion against this attempt, and raised to 
the throne another Ariarathes, the son of Ariarathes VI., 
and. the younger brother of Ariarathes VIL, who endeavor- 
ed to establish himself, but was driven out by Mithridates 
and died shortly afterwards. By the death of this prince the 
old royal family of Cappadocia became extinct ; and though 
pretenders to the throne, claiming a royal descent, were put 
forward both by Mithridates and Nicomedes, yet, as the nul- 
lity of these claims was patent, Rome permitted the Cappa- 
docians to choose themselves a new sovereign, which they 
did in b.c. 93, when Ariobarzanes was proclaimed king. 

8. Ariobarzanes had scarcely ascended the throne when lie 
was. expelled by Tigranes, king of Armenia, and forced to fly 

, , . to Rome for protection. The Romans reinstated 

Reign of Ano- . . . , ^ ^ . . , . 

barzanes L, him m the next year, b.c. 92 ; and he reigned in 
peace for four years, b.c. 92 to 88, when he was 
again ejected, this time by Mithridates, who seized his terri- 
tories, and retained possession of them during the w'hole of 
his first war with the Romans. At the peace, made in b.c. 
84, Ariobarzanes w^as once more restored. He now continued 
undisturbed till b.c. 67, when Mithridates and Tigranes in 
combination drove him from his kingdom for the third time, 
after which, in b.c. 66, he received his third restoration at the 
hands of Pompey. About two years later he abdicated in 
favor of his son, Ariobarzanes. 

15 



338 LESSER KINGDOMS. - {.book iv. 

9. Ariobarzanes II., the friend of Cicero, began to reign 
probably in b.c. 64. He took the titles of "Eusebes" (the 

^, . Pious) and " Philorhomaeus " (lover of the Ro- 

ReignofAno- / ^. 

barzaues II., mans), and appears to have aimed steadily at 
deserving the latter appellation. It was difficult, 
however, to please all parties in the civil wars. Ariobarza- 
nes sided with Pompey against Csesar, and owed it to the 
magnanimity of the latter that he was not deprived of his 
kingdom after Pharsalia, but forgiven and allowed an in- 
crease of territory. In the next civil war he was less for- 
tunate. Having ventured to oppose the "Liberators," he 
was seized and put to death by Cassius, b.c. 42, after he had 
reigned between twenty-one and twenty-two years. 

10. After Philippi, Antony conferred the crown of Cap- 
padocia on Ariarathes IX., the son (apparently) of the last 
„ . ^ . . kinir. It was not Ions:, however, before this prince 

Reigns of An- , =. . ^ t • i t i 

arathesix. lost his lavoi*, and. Ill B.C. 36, he was put to death 
^' * by Antony's orders, who wanted his throne for 
Archelatis, one of his creatures. Archelatis, the grandson of 
Mithridates's general of the same name, ruled Cappadocia 
from B.C. 36 to a.d. 15, when he was summoned to Home by 
Tiberius, who had been oifended by the circumstance that 
Archelatis paid him no attention when he was in voluntary 
exile at Rhodes. Archelatis in vain endeavored to excuse, 
himself: he was retained at Rome by the tyrant, and died 
there, either of a disease, or possibly by his own hand, about 
A.D. 17. His kingdom was then reduced into the form of a 
Roman province. 

On the Cappadocian history, see Clinton's Kings of Cappadocia, in his 
Fasti Hellenici, vol. iii., Appendix, chap. ix. 



VI. KINGDOM OF THE GREATER ARMENIA. 

1. Armenia, which, from the date of the battle of Ipsus, 
B.C. 301, formed a portion of the empire of the Seleucidae, re- 
independence voltcd Oil the defeat of Antiochus the Great by 
B!c?i9o.^Ekr- the Romans, B.C. 190, and became split up into 
ly monarchs. two kingdoms, Armenia Major and Armenia Mi- 
nor, the latter lying on the west bank of the Euphrates. 
The first king of Armenia Major was Artaxias, who had been 
a general of Antiochus. He built Artaxata, the capital, and 



PEK. 111., PART IV.] GREATER ARMENIA. 339 

reigned probably about twenty-five years, when he was at- 
tacked, defeated, and made prisoner by Antiochus Epipha- 
nes, about b.c. 165, who recovered Armenia to the Syrian 
empire. How long the subjection continued is uncertain; 
but about B.C. 100 we find an Armenian king mentioned, who 
seems to be independent, and who carries on war with the 
Parthian monarch, Mithridates. This king, who is called by 
Justin Ortoadistes, appears to have been succeeded, b.c. 96, 
by the greatest of the Armenian monarchs, Tigranes I., who 
took the part already described (supra, p. 332) in the great 
war between Mithridates of Pontus and the Romans. 

2. Tigranes I, Avho w^as a descendant of Artaxias, raised 
Armenia from the condition of a petty kingdom to a power- 
Reign of Ti- ful and extensive empire. Compelled in his early 
fS!^ His'^' years to purchase a peace of the Parthians by a 
early wars. ccssion of territory, he soon afterwards, about b.c. 
90 to 87, not only recovered his provinces, but added to his 
dominions the important countries of Atropatene and Gor- 
dyene (or Upper Mesopotamia), chastising the Parthian mon- 
arch on his own soil, and gaining for himself a great reputa- 
tion. He then determined to attack the Syrian kingdom, 
which was verging to its fall under Philip, son of Grypus. 
Having crossed the Euphrates, he easily made himself master 
of the entire Syrian territory, including the province of Ci- 
licia; and for fourteen years, b.c. 83 to 69, "his dominions 
reached across the whole of Western Asia, from the borders 
of Pamphylia to the shores of the Caspian. It was during 
..V- .r. these years that he founded his ffreat capital of 

War with the -^ . » ^ 

Romans, B.C. iigranoccrta, and gave grievous onense to Kome 
by his conduct towards her protege, Ariobarzanes 
of Cappadocia, whose territory he ravaged, b.c. 75, carrying 
off more than 300,000 people. Soon afterwards he added to 
the offense by receiving and supporting Mithridates, and 
thus he drew the Roman arms upon himself and his kingdom. 

War of Tigranes with Rome. b.c. 69. Tigranes invades Lycaonia. 
Lucullus proceeds into Armenia, defeats Mithrobarzanes, and threatens Ti- 
granocerta. Tigranes marches to the relief of his capital. Great battle be- 
tween the two armies. Tigranes completely defeated. Tigranocerta falls. 
Defection of Syria, which is given to Antiochus Asiaticus, the son of Euse- 
bes, — B.C. 68. Tigranes, accompanied by Mithridates, retreats to the Anne- 
nian highlands, whither they are followed by Lucullus. Battle near Artax- 
ata, another Komaji victory. Disaflfection of the troops of Lucullus prevents 



340 LESSER KINGDOMS. [book iv. 

any further successes. Lucullus quits Armenia, and marches southward 
into Mesopotamia. Siege and fall ofNisibis. — b.c. 67. Tigranes andMith- 
ridates take the offensive ; the latter recovers Pontus ; the former reoccupies 
Cappadocia, and invades Armenia Minor. The movements of Lucullus are 
paralyzed by the disaffection of his troops. — B.C. 6G. Command of Pompey, 
\v'ho allies himself with the Parthian king, Phraates. Rebellion of the young 
Tigranes, who is supported by Phraates against his father. Invasion of Ai*- 
menia by Phraates. Second invasion, later in the year, by Pompey. Sub- 
mission of Tigranes. Terms granted him. 

3. The result of the war with Rome was the loss by Ti- 
granes of all his conquests. He retained merely his original 
Later years of kingdom of the Greater Armenia. The fidelity, 
Tigranes. however, which he showed towards Pompey led 
to the enlargement of his dominions, b.c. 65, by the addition 
of Gordyene ; and the Roman alliance was otherwise service- 
able to him in the war which he continued to wage with Par- 
thia. He appears to have died about b.c. 55, eleven years 
after the conclusion of his peace with Rome, and one year 
before the expedition of Crassus. 

4. Tigranes was succeeded by his son, Artavasdes I., who 
began his reign by following out the later policy of his fa- 
^ . ,, , ther, and endeavorinoj to keep on s^ood terms with 

Reign of Arta- , ' ^^ . ° ^ . ° , 

vasdes I., b.c. the Romans. He bore a part in the great expe- 
dition of Crassus against the Parthians, b.c. 54 ; 
and it was only when Orodes, the Parthian king, advanced 
against him, and he was unable to obtain any assistance from 
Rome, that he consented to a Parthian alliance, and gave his 
daughter in marriage to Orodes's son, Pacorus. This led him, 
when Pacorus invaded Syria, b.c. 51, to take up an attitude 
of hostility to the Romans. But, at a later date, when An- 
tony threatened the Parthians, b.c. 36, he again espoused the 
Roman side, and took part in that general's expedition into 
Media Atropatene, which turned out unfortunately. Antony 
attributed his repulse to Artavasdes deserting him in his dif- 
ficulties, and therefore invaded his country, in b.c. 34, obtain- 
ed possession of his person, and carried him into captivity. 
Cleopatra afterwards, b.c. 30, put Artavasdes to death. 

It is worth remark that there was a considerable degree of culture in Ar- 
menia at this period. Its character was Greek. Tigranes I. struck coins 
with a Greek legend. Artavasdes I. wrote speeches, tragedies, and even his- 
torical works in the Greek language. 

5. On the captivity of Artavasdes, the Armenians conferred 



PER. III., PART IV.] MINOR ARMENIA. 341 

the royal dignity on Artaxias II., his son. At first the Ro- 
mans, in conjunction with Artavasdes of Atropa- 
taxiasiL, B.C. tcnc, drovc him out; but dunnsj the strusjo'le be- 
tween Octavius and Antony he returned, defeated 
the Atropatenian monarch, and took him prisoner. At the 
same time, he gave command for a massacre of all the Ro- 
mans in Armenia, which accordingly took place. He reigned 
from B.C. 34 to 19, when he was murdered by his relations. 

6. The Romans now brought forward a candidate for the 
throne in the person of Tigranes, the brother of Artaxias II., 
who was installed in his kingdom by Tiberius at the com- 
mand of Augustus, and ruled the country as Tigranes II. 
From this time Armenian independence was really at an 
end. The titular monarchs were mere puppets, maintained 
in their position by the Roman emperors or the Parthian 
kings, who alternately exercised a j^reponderating influence 
over the country. At length Armenia was made into a Ro- 
man province by Trajan, b.c. 114. 

A general History of Armenia from the earliest times to his own day was 
written in the Armenian language by Moses Chorenensis, about a.d. 430 
to 450. It embodies the national traditions, and possesses thus a certain 
amount of interest ; but it is contradicted by classical writers, contemporary 
with the events, on so many points that it can not be regarded as possessing 
more than a very slight historical value. This work was translated into Latin 
by Whiston, and published in a single 4to volume. London, 1736. 

Lists of the Annenian kings from Artaxias downward have been collected 
by Foy-Vaillant, in his Arsacidarum Imperium (Ap])endix, Elenchus regiim 
ArmenicB Majoris), by Brotier in his notes to Tacitus (vol. i. pp. 420 to 
428), and others. 

VII. KINGDOM OF ARMENIA MINOR. 

The kingdom of Armenia Minor was founded by Zaria- 
dras, a general of Antiochus the Great, about the same time 
Duration of that Artaxias founded the kingdom of Armenia 
fromS°9o' Major, i. e., about b.c. 190. It continued a sepa- 
toA.D.73. rate state, governed by the descendants of the 
founder, till the time of Mithridates of Pontus, when it was 
annexed to his dominions by that ambitious prince. Subse- 
quently it fell almost wholly under the power of the Ro- 
mans, and was generally attached to one or other of the 
neighboring kingdoms, until the reign of Vespasian, when it 
was converted into a Roman province. The names of tlie 



342 LESSER KINGDOMS. [book iv, 

early kings after Zariadras are unknown. Among the later 
were a Cotys, contemporary with Caligula, a.d. 47, and an 
Aristobulus, contemporary with Nero, a.d. 54. The latter 
prince belonged to the family of the Herods. 



VIII. KINGDOM OF BACTRIA. 

1. The Bactrian satrapy was for some time after the death 
of Alexander only nominally subject to any of the so-called 
^. . ..., "Successors." But, about b.c. 305, Seleucus Ni- 

Origiuofthe • i • ^ . i- t . • t , 

kingdom, cator lu his Oriental expedition received the sub- 
mission of the governor ; and from that date till 
the reign of his grandson, Antiochus Theus, Bactria -con- 
tinued to be a province of the Syrian empire. Then, how- 
ever, the personal character of Antiochus Theus, and his 
entanglement in a war with Ptolemy Philadelphus, which 
taxed his powers to the utmost, encouraged the remoter 
provinces to revolt; and about b.c. 255 Diodotus, satrap of 
Bactria, declared himself independent, and became the found- 
er of the Bactrian kingdom. 

2. Little is known of Diodotus I. beyond the date of his 
accession, and the fact of the continuance of his reign from 
Rei<^nofDio- ^^^^^^ ^•^- ^55 to 237. It is possiblc that about 
ciotusi.,jibout B.C. 244 he (nominally at any rate) submitted to 

Ptolemy Euergetes ; and probable that when 
Seleucus Callinicus made his first attack on Parthia, Diodo- 
tus lent him assistance, and obtained in return an acknowl- 
edgment of his independence. He appears to have died 
during the expedition of Callinicus, which is assigned prob- 
ably to the year b.c. 237. At his death he left the crown to 
a son of the same name. 

It is to be borne in mind tliat the Bactrian kingdom was in its origin 
purely Greek, and that thus it stands in marked contrast with the Parthian. 
The coins of Diodotus I. are excellent in type ; they have wholly Greek 
legends. 

3. Diodotus II., who succeeded Diodotus I. about b.c. 237, 
pursued a policy quite different from that of his father. In- 
Heigu ofDio- stead of lending aid to Callinicus, he concluded a 
ciotus II. treaty with Arsaces II, (Tiridates), the Parthian 
king, and probably assisted him in the great battle by which 
Parthian independence was regarded as finally established. 



PER. III., PART IV.] BACTRIA. 343 

Nothing more is known of this king; nor can it even be de- 
termined whether it was he or his son who was removed by 
Euthydemus, when that prince seized the crown, about b.c. 
222. 

4. Euthydemus, the third known Bactrian king, was a 
Greek of Magnesia, in Asia Minor. The circumstances un- 
KeiguofEu- der which he seized the crown are unknown to 
about^Ic.'222 ^^^ ; but it appears that he had been king for 
-200. some considerable time when Antiochus the 
Great, liaving made peace with Arsaces, the third Parthian 
monarch, turned his arms against Bactria with the view of 
reducing it to subjection. In a battle fought on the Arius 
(Heri-Rud), Euthydemus was defeated ; but Antiochus, Avho 
received a wound in the engagement, shortly after granted 
him terms, promised to give one of his daughters in mar- 
riage to Demetrius, Euthydemus's son, and left him in quiet 
possession of his dominions, b.c. 206. The Indian conquests 
of Demetrius seem to have commenced soon afterwards, 
while his father was still living. They were on the south 
side of the Paropamisus, in the modern Candahar and Cabul. 

5. Demetrius, who is proved by his coins to have been 
king of Bactria, no doubt succeeded his father. He engaged 
Rif^nofD ^^^ ^^^ iniportant series of conquests — partly as 
metrius, about crown princc, partly as king — on the southern 

side of the Paropamisus, which extended proba- 
bly over the greater portion of AiFghanistan, and may even 
have embraced some districts of the Punjab region. The 
city of Demetrias in Arachosia, and that of Euthydemeia on 
the Hydaspes, are with reason regarded as traces of these 
conquests. While Demetrius was thus employed, a rebel 
named Eucratides seems to have supplanted him at home ; 
and the reigns of these monarchs were for some time paral- 
lel, Demetrius ruling on the south and Eucratides on the 
north side of the mountains. 

The dates for the accession and death of Demetrius are exceedingly doubt- 
fiil. The best authorities assign him, conjecturally, the space from about 
B.C. 200 to 180. 

6. After the death of Demetrius, Eucratides appears to 
_ . _„ have reimied over both kino'doms. He was a 

Reign of En- » ^ , . . 

cratides, about monarch of Considerable vigor and activity, and 
pushed his conquests deep into the Punjab re- 



344 LESJSEK KINGDOMS. [book iv. 

gion. He lost, however, a portion of his home territory to 
the Parthian princes. On his return from an Indian expedi- 
tion he was waylaid and slain by his own son, whom he had 
previously associated in the kingdom. liis reign must have 
lasted from about b.c. 180 to 160. 

7. The son of Eucratides, who after his murder became 
sole monarch of Bactria, appears to have been a certain He- 
Reicxn of He ^i^^^^^j ^ho took the title of Aiicaiog, " the Just," 
liodes, about and reigned over Bactria probably from about 
B.C. 160 to 150. Nothing is known in detail of 
the circumstances of his reign ; but there is reason to be- 
lieve that Bactria now rapidly declined in power, being 
j)ressed upon by the Scythian nomades towards the north, 
Decline of Bac- ^^^^ ^J ^^^^ Parthians on the ^vest and south, 
triau power, j^^-j^-] continually losing one province after anoth- 
er to the invaders. It was in vain that these unhappy 
Greeks implored in their isolation the aid of their Syrian 
brethren against the constant encroachments of the barbari- 
ans. The expedition of Demetrius Nicator, undertaken for 
their relief, b.c. 142, terminated in his defeat and capture. 
Hellenic culture and civilization proved in this quarter no 
match for barbaric force, and had of necessity to give way 
and retreat. After the reign of Ileliocles, we have no further 
indication of Greek rulers to the north of the Paropamisus. 
On the southern side of the mountain-chain somewhat more 
of tenacity was show^n. In Cabul and Candahar Greek king- 
doms, offshoots of the Bactrian, continued to exist down to 
about B.C. 80, when the last remnant of Hellenic power in 
this quarter was swept away by the Yue-chi and other 
Scythic, or Tatar, races. 

To these Indian, rather than Bactrian, kingdoms belong the names of Lys- 
ias (about b.c. IGO), Antimachus (same date), Apollodotus (same date), 
Menander (b.c. 140), Philoxenes (same date), Antieleides, Archebius, Dio- 
medes (about B.C. 100), Herma;us (same date), and others, whose coins, 
which have Greek legends, show them to have reigned in these regions. No 
great historical interest attaches to any of these kings except Menander. 
Menander was a powerful monarch, who held his court probably at the city 
of Cabul, and ruled over the whole tract extending from the Paropamisus on 
the north to the Indian Ocean towards the south, and from the neighborhood 
of Herat on the one side, to the Jumna, a tributary of the Ganges, on the 
other. His coins are found in the Hazarah country, west of Cabul, at Cabul 
itself, at Peshawur, and on the banks of the Jumna. In the first century af- 



TEK. III., i AKT IV.] PARTHIA. 345 

ter Christ they were current on the coast of Guzerat, and about the mouths 
of the Indus. There is reason therefore to beHeve that Strabo did not exag- 
gerate his power, which probably lasted for about a quarter of a century in 
the regions mentioned. 

On the Grajco-Bactrian history, see the following works : 

Bayer, T. S., Historia regni Grcecorum Bactriani. Petropol., 1738; 
4to. The earliest, and, so far as the notices of the ancients go, the most 
complete work on the subject. 

Wilson, Prof. H. H., Ariana Antigua (chap. iv.). London, 1841 ; 4to. 
Contains a full and excellent account and representation of the Graco-Bac- 
trian coins. 

Lassen, Prof., Indische Alterthumskunde. Bonn, 1849 ; 2 vols, tall 8vo. 
See particularly the section entitled Geschichte der Griechisch-Baktrischen 
Konige, vol. ii. pp. 277 to 344. 

Special works on the Coins of Bactria and the adjoining cpuntries are nu- 
merous. Among them the following deserve attention : 

Raoul-Rochette, Notice sur quelques medailles grecques inedites, appar- 
tenant a des rois inconnus de Bactriane et de I'lnde, published in the Journal 
des Savants for 1834 ; pp. 328 et seqq. 

Grotefend, C. L,, Die MUnzen der griechiscken, parthischen, und indos- 
kythischen Konige von Baktrien und den Landern am Indus. Hanover, 
1839. 



IX. KINGDOM OF PARTHIA. 

The Parthian kingdom is said to have been founded near- 
ly at the same time with the Bactrian, during the reign of 
Parthian Antiochus Theus in Syria, about b.c. 255 or 256. 
from^B.c.'25G ^^ Originated, however, not in the revolt of a sa- 
to A.D. 226. trap, but in the uprising of a nation. Reinforced 
by a kindred body of Turanians from beyond the Jaxartes, 
the Parthi of the region lying south-east of the Caspian rose 
in revolt against their Grecian masters, and succeeded in es- 
tablishing their independence. From a small beginning 
they gradually spread their poAver over the greater part of 
Western Asia, being for a considerable period lords of all the 
countries between the Euphrates and the Sutlej. As the 
Parthian kingdom, though a fragment of the empire of Alex- 
ander, was never absorbed into that of the Romans, but con- 
tinued to exist side by side with the Roman empire during 
the most flourishing period of the latter, it is proposed to 
reserve the details of the history for the next Book, and to 
give only this brief notice of the general character of the 
monarchy in the present place. 

15* 



346 LESSER KINGDOMS. [book iv. 

X. KINGDOM OF JUDJEA. 

1. Though the Jewish kingdom, which came into being 
midway in the Syrian period, originating in the intolerable 

^ cruelties and oppressions of the Syrian kinoes, was 

Importance of ■, • ^^ n i n i 

Jewish histo- geographically oi such small extent as scarcely 
^^' to claim distinct treatment in a work which must 

needs omit to notice many of the lesser states and kingdoms, 
yet the undying interest Avhich attaches to the Jewish j^eo- 
ple, and the vast influence which the nation has exercised 
over the progress of civilization, will justify, it is thought, 
in the present place, not only an account of the kingdom, 
but a sketch of the general history of the nation from the 
time when, as related in the first Book (p. 69), it was carried 
into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar to the period of the re- 
establishment of independence. This history naturally di- 
vides itself into two periods: — 1. From the Captivity to the 
fall of the Persian empire, b.c. 586 to 323; and, 2. From the 
fall of the Persian empire to the re-establishment 
of an independent kingdom, B.C. 323 to 168. The 
history of the kingdom may also be most conveniently treat- 
ed in two portions: — 1. The Maccabee period, from b.c. 168 
to 37; and, 2. The period of the Herods, b.c. 37 to a.d. 44, 
when Judaea became finally a Roman province. Thus the 
entire history will fall under four heads. 

2. First Period. About fifty years after the completion 
of the Captivity by Nebuchadnezzar, and nearly seventy 
First Period, years after its commencement, a great change 
ReturufrcfiVi was effected in the condition of the Jewish peo- 
captivity. p|^ -^y. (^yj-yg^ That monarch, having captured 
Babylon in the year b.c. 538, found among his new subjects 
an oppressed race, in whose religion he recognized a consid- 
erable resemblance to his own, and in w^hose fortunes he 
therefore took a special interest. Learning that they had 
been violently removed from their own country two genera- 
tions previously, and finding that numbers of them had a 
strong desire to return, he gave permission that such as 
wished might go back and re-establish themselves in their 
country. Accordingly, a colony, numbering 42,360 persons, 
besides their servants, set out from Babylonia, and made 
their way to Jerusalem ; in or near Avhich the greater num- 



PER. III., PART IV,] JUD-iEA. 347 

ber of them settled. This colony, at the head of which was 
Zerubbabel, a descendant of the old line of kings, was after- 
wards strengthened by •two others, one led by Ezra, in b.c. 
458, and the other by Nehemiah, in b.c. 445. Besides these 
known accessions, there was probably also for many years a 
continual influx of individuals, or families, who were attract- 
ed to their own land, not only by the love of country, which 
has always been so especially strong in the Jews, but also 
by motives of religion. Still great numbers of Jews, prob- 
ably half the nation, remained where they had so long re- 
sided, in Babylonia and the adjoining countries. 

3. The exiles who returned under Zerubbabel belonged 
predominantly, if not exclusively, to three tribes, Judah, Levi, 

and Benjamin. It was their first object to re- 
rebuiit, b.o. build their famous Temple on its former site, and 

535—515 

to re-establish the old Temple-service. But in 
this work they were greatly hindered by their neighbors. 
A mixed race, partly Israelite, partly foreign — including 
Babylonians, Persians, Elamites, Arabs, and others — had re- 
peopled the old kingdom of Samaria, and established there a 
mongrel worship, in part Jehovistic, in part idolatrous. On 
the first arrival of the Jewish colony, this mixed race pro- 
posed to join the new-comers in the erection of their Tem- 
ple, and to make it a common sanctuary open both to them- 
selves and the Jews. But such a course Avould have been 
dangerous to the purity of religion ; and Zerubbabel very 
properly declined the offer. His refusal stirred up a spirit 
of hostility among the " Samaritans ;" which showed itself 
in prolonged efibrts to jn-event the rebuilding of the Temple 
and the city — efibrts which were for a while successful, con- 
siderably delaying, though they could not finally defeat, the 
work. 

Building of Temple commenced about b.c. 535, Work stopped by a re- 
script of the pseudo-Smerdis (Artaxerxes of Ezra iv. 7-23), about B.C. 522, 
Resumed, b.c. 519, in consequence of a decree of Darius Hystaspis. Com- 
pletion of Temple, b.c. 515. 

4. The favor of Darius Hystaspis allowed the Jews to 
complete their Temple, and to establish themselves firmly in 
the country of their ancestors, despite the ill-will of the sur- 
rounding nations and tribes. But in the reign of his succes- 
sor, Xerxes, a terrible danger was incurred. That weak 



348 LESSER KIJJGDOMS. [book iv. 

Dan erofthe P^ince allowed liis minister, Haman (Omanes?),to 
Jews. Pro- persuade him that it would be for the advantage 
ere averted by of liis empire, if the Je\^'«, who were to be found 
tiw?f Esther, in various parts of his dominions, always a distinct 
about B.C.473. ^.r^^e, not amalgamating with those among whom 
they lived, could be quietly got rid of. Having obtained 
the monarch's consent, he planned and prepared a general 
massacre, by which on one day the whole race was to be 
swept from the earth. Fortunately for the doomed nation, 
the inclination of the fickle king had shifted before the day 
of execution came, the interposition of the Avife in favor at 
the time, who was a Jewess, having availed for the preser- 
vation of her people. Instead of being taken unawares by 
their enemies, and massacred unresistingly, the Jews were 
everywhere warned of their danger and allowed to stand on 
their defense. The weight of the government was thrown 
on their side ; and the result was that, wherever they were 
attacked, they triumphed, and improved their future posi 
tion by the destruction of all their most bitter adversaries. 

The "Ahasuenis" of the Book of Esther lias been identified by Avriters of 
repute with Darius Hystaspis and with Artaxerxes Longimanus, as well as 
Avith Xerxes. But the notes of time, character, and name, which all point to 
Xerxes, have produced among moderns almost a consensus in his favor. The 
historical character of the narrative is proved by the institution of the feast 
of Purim, which is still kept by the Jews, and of which no other account can 
be given. 

5. Though the Jews had thus escaped this great danger, 

and had strengthened their position by the destruction of so 

Tendency to many of their enemies, yet their continued exist- 
in termixture . ,. j'li p n 
with foreign- eucc as a Separate nation was still far from se- 

by EzraS ^"^*^- "^^o causcs imperilled it. In spite of the 
Nehemiah. refusal to allow foreigners, even though partially 
allied in race, to take part in the rebuilding of the Temple, a 
tendency showed itself, as time went on, towards a fusion 
with the surrounding peoples. The practice of intermar- 
riage with these peoples commenced, and had gained a great 
head when Ezra brought his colony from Babylon in the 
seventh year of Longimanus, e.c. 458. By the earnest ef- 
forts, first of Ezra, and then of Nehemiah, about B.C. 434, this 
evil was checked. 

6. The other peril was of a different kind. Jerusalem, 



PER. III., PART IV.] JUD^A. 34.9 

though rebuilt on the old site by the colony of Zerubbabel, 
was without walls or other defenses, and thus lay 

Fortification . , „ i m • i 

of Jerusalem, Open to attack on the part 01 any hostile neigh- 
bor. The authority of Persia was weak in the 
more remote provinces, which not un frequently revolted, 
and remained for years in a state bordering on anarchy. It 
Avas an important gain to the Jews when, in the twentieth 
year of Artaxerxes, Nehemiah came down from the court 
with authority to refortify the city, and eflected his purpose 
despite the opposition which he encountered, b.c. 445. 

7. It was a feature of the Persian system to allow the na- 
tions under their rule a good deal of self-government and in- 
Method of ad- ternal independence. Judaea was a portion of 
mJdefthePer- ^^^ Syrian satrapy, and had no doubt to submit 
sians. ^q ^^q,}i requisitions as the Syrian satrap made 
upon it for men and money. But, so long as these requisi- 
tions were complied with, there was not much further inter- 
ference with the people, or with their mode of managing 
their own affairs. Occasionally a local governor (Tirshatha), 
with a rank and title below those of a satrap, was appointed 
by the Crown to superintend Judaea, or Jerusalem; but 
these officers do not appear to have succeeded each other 
with regularity, and, when they were appointed, it would 
seem that they were always natives. In default of a regular 
succession of such governors, the High-priests came to be 
regarded as not merely the religious but also the political 
heads of the nation, and the general direction of affairs fell 
into their hands. 

Line of High-priests from the commencement to the close of the Per- 
sian period: — 1. Jeshua, B.C. 536 to 515. Contemporary with Zerubbabel, 
Haggai, and Zechariah. 2. Joiakim, son of Jeshua, about b.c. 500 to 4C0. 
3. Eliashib, son of Joiakim, b.c. 458 to 434. Contemporary with Ezra and 
Nehemiah. 4. Joiada, son of Eliashib, about b.c. 430 to 400. Contempo- 
rary with Darius Nothus. 5. Jonathan, son of Joiada, about B.C. 400 to 3G0. 
Contemporaiy with Artaxei*xes Mnemon. Murders his brother Jeshua. 
6. Jaddua, son of Jonathan, about 3G0 to 330. Contemporary with Darius 
Codomannus. After the fall of Tyre, yields Jerusalem to Alexander the 
Great. 

8. Second Period. In the partitions which were made 
Jud^a under ^^ Alexander's dominions at Babylon and at 
thePtoiemies, Triparadisus (see pp. 239 and 241), the Syrian 

u.c. 320-203. ■■■ T . 1 . , -, -, T-. 1 • 

satrapy, Avhich included Palestine, was consti- 



350 LESSER KINGDOMS. [book iv. 

tuted a separate government. But a very little time elapsed 
before Ptolemy Lagi annexed the satrapy, the southern di- 
vision of which continued thenceforward, except during short 
intervals, a portion of the kingdom of Egypt, until the reign 
of Ptolemy Epiphanes. It is uncertain whether Alexander 
assigned the Jews any special privileges in the great city 
which he founded in Egypt ; but there can be no doubt that 
the early Ptolemies highly favored this class of their sub- 
jects, attracting them in vast numbers to their capital, en- 
couraging their literature, and granting them many privi- 
leges. The subjection of Judaea to Egypt lasted from b.c. 
320 to B.C. 203 ; and though the country was during this 
space ravaged more than once by the forces of contending 
armies, yet on the whole the time must be regarded as one 
of general peace and prosperity. The high-priests continued 
to be at the head of the state, and ruled Judaea without much 
oppressive interference from the Egyptians. 

The High-priests during this period were — 1. Onias I., the son of Jad- 
dua, about B.C. 330 to 300. 2. Simon the Just, the son of Onias, about B.C. 
300 to 290. 3. Eleazar, brother of Simon the Just, about B.C. 290 to 265. 
4. Manasseh, also a brother of Simon, about B.C. 265 to 240. 5. Onias II., 
son of Simon, b.c. 240 to 226. Nearly brought about a rupture with Egypt 
from his refusal to pay the customaiy tribute. 6. Simon II., son of Onins 
11. , B.C. 226 to 198. 

9. Towards the close of the Ptolemaic period, the Jews 
began to have serious cause of complaint against their Egyp- 
tian rulers. The fourth Ptolemy (Philopator), a 

Judaea voluu- . i > i 

tariiy places weak and debauched prmce, attempted to violate 
theSeieucidi the sanctity of the Jewish Temple by entering it, 
B.O.203. ^^^^ when his attempt was frustrated, sought to 

revenge himself by punishing the Alexandrian Jews, who 
had done him no injury at all. It was the natural result of 
these violent proceedings that the Jews, in disgust and alarm, 
should seek a protector elsewhere. Accordingly, when An- 
tiochus the Great, in the infancy of Ptolemy Epiphanes, de- 
termined to attack Egypt, and to annex, if possible, to his 
own dominions the valuable maritime tract extending from 
his province of Upper Syria to the Sinaitic Desert, the Jews 
voluntarily joined him ; and though Ptolemy's general, Sco- 
pas, recovered most of what had been lost, yet Antiochus, 
by the victory of Paneas, b.c. 198, was left in final possession 



PER. III., PAKT IV.] JUD^A. 351 

of the whole region, which thenceforth, though often disputed 
by Egypt, became a possession of the Syrian kings. 

10. Under Antiochus the Great, and for a time under his 
elder son, Seleucus Philopator, the Jews had no reason to re- 
in-treatment P^^^^ *^^ exchange they had made. Both Antio- 
ofthe Jewsby chus, and Scleucus for a while, respected the priv- 

the SeleucidsB . . ^ 

leads to re- ilcgcs of the nation, and abstained from any pro- 
voit, B.0. 168. ggg^ij^gg tl^^^ could give umbrage to their new 
subjects. But towards the close of the reign of Seleucus, an 
important change of policy took place. The wealth of the 
Jewish Temple being reported to the Syrian monarch, and 
his own needs being great, he made an attempt to appropri- 
ate the sacred treasure, which was however frustrated, either 
by miracle, or by the contrivance of the High-priest Onias. 
This unwarrantable attempt of Seleucus was followed by 
worse outrages in the reign of his brother and successor, 
Antiochus Epiphanes. Not only did that monarch sell the 
office of High-priest, first to Jason and then to Menelatis, 
but he endeavored to effect by systematic proceedings the 
complete Hellenization of the Jews, whereto a party in the 
nation was already sufficiently inclined. Further, having, by 
his own iniquitous proceedings in the matter of the high- 
priesthood, given occasion to a civil war between the rival 
claimants, he chose to regard the war as rebellion against his 
authority, and on his return from his second Egyptian cam- 
paign, b.c. 170, took possession of Jerusalem, and gave it up 
to massacre and pillage. At the same time he plundered 
the Temple of its sacred vessels and treasures. Kor was 
this all. Two years afterwards, b.c. 168, he caused Jerusalem 
to be occupied a second time by an armed force, set up an 
idol altar in the Temple, and caused sacrifice to be offered 
there to Jupiter Olympius. The Jews were forbidden any 
longer to observe the Law, and were to be Hellenized by 
main force. Hence the rising under the Maccabees, and the 
gradual re-establishment of independence. 

High-priests under the Syrians : — 1. Onias III., son of Simon XL, b.c. 
198 to 175. Frustrates the attempt made to plunder the Temple by Helio- 
dorus at the command of Seleucus Philopator. Deprived of the priesthood 
by Antiochus Epiphanes at the instigation of Jason. 2, Jason, brother of 
Onias III., b.c. 175 to 172. Buys the office of Antiochus. Introduces 
Greek customs. Sends an offering to Hercules at Tyre. Supplanted by his 
emissary Menelaiis. 3. Menelaiis (according to Josephus, brother of Ja- 



352 LESSER KINGDOMS. [book iv. 

son), B.C. 172 to 1G3. Buys the office. Civil war between him and Jason. 
Put to death by Antiochus Eupator. 

11. Third Pekiod. At first the patriots who rose up 
against the attempt to annihilate the national religion and 
Judaea under life Were a scanty band, maintaining themselves 
bees^B.ci^i6s- with difficulty in the mountains against the forces 
2''- of the Syrian kings. Jerusalem, which was won 
by Judas Maccabseus, was lost again at his death ; and it 
was not till about b.c. 153, fourteen years after the first re- 
volt, that the struggle entered on a new^ phase in conse- 
quence of the contentions which then began between difier- 
ent pretenders to the Syrian throne. When war arose be- 
tween Demetrius and Alexander Balas, the support of the 
Jews was felt to be of importance by both parties. Both, 
consequently, made overtures to Jonathan, the third Macca- 
bee prince, who was shortly recognized not only as prince, 
but also as high-priest of the nation. From this time, as 
there were almost constant disputes between rival claimants 
of the crown in Syria, the Jews were able to maintain them- 
selves with comparative ease. Once or twice, during a 
pause in the Syrian contest, they were attacked and were 
forced to make a temporary submission. But the general 
result was that they maintained, and indeed continually 
enlarged, their independence. For some time they did not 
object to acknowledge the Syrian monarch as their suzerain, 
and to pay him an annual tribute; but after the death of 
Antiochus VII. (Sidetes) all such payments seem to have 
ceased, and the complete independence of the -country was 
established. Coins were struck bearing the name of the 
Maccabee prince, and the title of " King." Judsea Avas in- 
deed from this time as powerful a monarchy as Syria. John 
Hyrcanus conquered Samaria and Idumaea, and thus largely 
extended the Jewish boundaries, exactly at the time when 
those of Syria were undergoing rapid contraction. (See 
p. 259.) 

12. The deliverance of the state from any further fear of 
subjection by Syria was followed almost immediately by 
Commence- internal quarrels and dissensions, which led natu- 
YecSouto^' I'^lly t<^ the acceptance of a position of subordi- 
Rome,B.o.63. nation under another power. The Pharisees and 
Sadducees, hitherto mere religious sects, became transformed 



PER. III., PART IV.] JUD^A. 353 

into political factions. Civil wars broke out. The members 
of the royal family quarrelled among each other, and the 
different pretenders to the crown appealed for assistance to 
foreign nations. About b.c. 63 the Romans entered upon 
the scene ; and for the last twenty-six years of the Macca- 
bee period — b.c. 63 to 37 — while feeble princes of the once 
mighty Asmongean family still nominally held the throne, 
the Great Republic was really supreme in Palestine, took 
tribute, and appointed governors, or sanctioned the rule of 
kings, at her pleasure. It is the change of dynasty, and not 
any change in the internal condition of the country, that 
causes the year b.c. 37 to be taken as that at which to draw 
the line between the close of one period and the commence- 
ment of another. 

List of the Asmonjean Princes : — 1. Mattathias, a priest, leader of the 
revolt, B.C. 168 to 167. 2. Judas Maccaboeus, his third son. After some 
small successes, defeats Apollonius at Beth-horon, b.c. 167. Gains a victory 
at Emmaus over the forces of Lysias, b.c. 166, and defeats Lysias himself at 
Beth-snra, B.C. 165. Occupies all Jerusalem except the citadel, and purifies 
the Temple. Jerusalem besieged by Lysias, B.C. 163. Expedition of Nica- 
nor, B.C. 161. Judas defeats him at Capharsalama and at Adasa. Invasion 
of Bacchides. Judas is defeated and falls at Eleasa, ' ' the Jewish Thermop- 
ylse." Jerusalem recovered by the Syrians. 3. Jonathan, a younger brother 
of Judas, maintains the war for eight years with fair success in the mountains 
north-east of Jerusalem, inflicting several defeats upon Bacchides. The in- 
vasion of Syria by Alexander Balas, b.c. 153, entirely changes his position. 
Both parties court him. Demetrius puts him in possession of Jerusalem. 
Alexander nominates him to the high-priesthood, and obtains his assistance 
in the Avar which follows. At his death, b.c. 146, Demetrius II. makes 
terms Avith the Jews, but fails to fulfill them, in consequence of which Jona- 
than joins the party of Antiochus VI., the son of Alexander Balas, and lends 
it efficient aid, till his murder by the conspirator Tryphon, b.c. 144. 4. 
Simon, the last remaining son of Mattathias, succeeded his brother Jonathan, 
and to avenge his death made common cause with Demetiius II. against 
Tryphon, b.c. 143, stipulating, hoAvever, at the same time for the complete 
independence of his country. The first JeAvish coins are noAV struck. The 
Syrian garrison is expelled from the citadel of Jerusalem. Simon is pi'acti- 
cally king of the Jews. At the same time he holds the high-priesthood. 
The Jews continue undisturbed and prosperous for some years ; and Avhen, 
in B.C. 138, Antiochus Sidetes, having reduced Tryphon to extremities, re- 
solves to make an attempt to reconquer the country, his general, Cendebaius,^ 
is defeated, and Simon once more triumphs. Soon afterwards, however, b.c. 
135, he is assassinated by his own son-in-law, Ptolemaius, Avho attempts to 
seize the kingdom. 5. John Hyrcanus, son of Simon, obtains the govern- 
ment ; but before he is well settled in his kingdom, Sidetes rencAvs his enter- 
prise, and after a Avar which lasts two years, b.c. 135 to 133, he forces Hyr- 



354 LESSER KINGDOMS. [ijook iv. 

canus to acknowledge his authority, to dismantle Jerusalem, and to renew 
the payment of tribute. But on the death of Sidetes in the Parthian War, 
B.C. 129, Hyrcanus throws off the yoke, and takes advantage of the troubles 
which break out anew in Syria to enlarge his dominions by the conquest of 
Idiimaa and Samaria, B.C. 109. From this time the authority of Syria is at 
an end. John Hyrcanus dies in peace, b.c. lOG, leaving the government to 
his eldest son, Aristobulus. G. Aristobulus reigns one year only, during 
which he shows a cruel disposition. He is succeeded by his brother, 7. 
Alexander Jannaeus, who reigns from b.c. 105 to 78. In this reign the 
quarrels between the Pharisees and Sadducees come to a head and disturb 
the peace of the country. Alexander is a Sadducee ; and, the Pharisees 
having induced the people to insult him, a war breaks out, which rages for 
six years (b.c. 95 to 89), Jann£Bus being finally the victor. An attempt is 
subsequently made to dethrone him by the aid of Demetrius Eucserus of 
Syria. (See p. 260.) Success again rests with Jannaius, who once more 
severely punishes his adversaries. After this he reigns for some years peace- 
fully, and is allowed to leave his crown to his widow, 8. Alexandra, who 
joins the party of the Pharisees, and is maintained on the throne by their 
influence. At her death, in b.c. 70, her two sons, 9. Hyrcanus, the high- 
priest, and, 10. Aristobulus, quarrelled for the possession of the throne, and 
engaged in a civil war, which lasted till Pompey, in B.C. 63, took Jerusalem, 
carried off Aristobulus, and established Hyrcanus, who then reigned quietly 
from B.C. 63 to 57. In b.c. 57, Aristobulus, having escaped from Rome, 
raised fresh troubles, which were quelled by the Roman commander, Gabin- 
ius, who deposed Hyrcanus, and established a species of oligarchy, which 
lasted ten years, B.C. 57 to 47. Hyrcanus was then restored to power by 
Julius CiBsar, whom he had aided in the Egyptian campaign of B.C. 48, and 
remained at the head of affairs till b.c 40, when he Avas deposed and muti- 
lated by the last Asmonajan prince, 11. Antigonus, who, having obtained 
a Parthian force, took Jerusalem, and held the government for three years, 
B.C. 40 to 37, when he was forced to yield to Herod, assisted by the Romans. 

13. Fourth Period. During the fourth period Roman 
influence was, not only practically, as during much of the 
jiidsea under third period, but professedly predominant over 
j5^c ?7^to*A D. ^^^® country. The Herods, who owed their estab- 
4^- lishment in authority wholly to the Romans, had 

no other means of maintaining themselves than by preserv- 
ing the favor of their patrons. Obnoxious, except to a small 
fraction of the nation, from their Idumaean descent, they were 
hated still more as the minions of a foreign power, a standing 
proof to the nation of its own weakness and degraded con- 
cfition. On the other hand, there were no doubt some who 
viewed the rule of the Herods as, in a certain sense, a pro- 
tection against Rome, a something interposed between the 
nation and its purely heathen oppressors, saving the nation- 



PER. III., PART IV.] JUD^A. 355 

al life from extinction, and offering the best compromise 
which circumstances permitted between an impossible en- 
tire indei^endence and a too probable absorption into the 
empire. Such persons were willing to see in Herod the 
Great, and again in Herod Agrippa, the Messiah — the king 
foredoomed to save them from the yoke of the foreigner, and 
to obtain for them the respect, if not even the obedience, of ' 
the surrounding peoples. 

14. But these feelings, and the attachment to the dynasty 
which grew out of them, must have become weaker as time 
Period of Ro- wcnt on. The kingdom of the Herods gradually 
meutl^A D^^si" lost instead of gaining in power. Rome contiuu- 
44. ally encroached more and more. As early as a.d. 

8, a portion of Palestine, and the most imj)ortant portion in 
the eyes of the Jews, was formally incorporated into the Ro- 
man empire ; and though the caprice of an emperor after- 
wards revoked this proceeding, and restored another Herod 
to the throne of his grandfather, yet from the moment when 
the first Procurator levied taxes in a Jewish province all but 
the willfully blind must have seen what was impending. The 
civil authority of the last native prince over Judaea came to 
an end in a.d. 44 ; and the whole of Palestine, except a small 
district held as a kingdom by Agrippa H., was from that 
time absorbed into the empire, being appended to the Ro- 
man province of Syria and ruled wholly by Roman Procura- 
tors. The national life was consequently at the last gasp. 
As far as political forms went, it was extinct ; but there re- 
mained enough of vital energy in the seeming corpse for the 
nation once more to reassert itself, and to show by the great 
" War of Independence " that it was not to be finally crushed 
without a fearful struggle, the issue of which at one time ap- 
peared almost doubtful. 

Line of Jewish Governors from B.C. 37 to a.d. 44: — 1. Herod the 
Great. Obtains his crown by the favor of Antony, B.C. 37. Marries Mari- 
amne, the Asmonsean princess, the same year. His dominions increased b}' 
Augustus, after Actium, B.C. 30. Rebuilds the Temple \vith great magnifi- 
cence, but also rebuilds that on Mount Gerizira, and at Ccesarea erects hea- 
then temples. Maintains a body-guard of foreign mercenaries. Cruel and 
suspicious, especially towards the members of his own family. Puts to death 
Mariamne, her grandfather Hyrcanus, her two sons Aristobulus and Alex- 
ander, Antipater, his eldest son, and others. Dies b.c. 4 (according to the 
received chronolog}-). 2. Archelaiis, 3. Antipas, and 4. Phihp, inherit por- 



356 LESSER KINGDOMS. [book iv. 

tions of their father's dominions, Archelaiis having Idumaea, Judasa, and Sa- 
maria; Antipas, Galilee and Peraea; and Philip, Ituraa and Trachonitis. 
Archelaiis rules oppressively, and is deposed by the Romans, a.d. 8, who add 
his dominions to the province of Syria, but assign the actual government to 
Procurators. These were, 5. Coponius; 6. M. Ambivius ; 7. Annius Rufus-; 
8. Valerius Gratus, a.d. 14 to 25; 9, Pontius Pilate, a.d. 25 to 36; 10. 
Marcellus. Antipas ruled in Galilee from B.C. 4 to a.d. 39, when he was 
deposed; and Philip in Trachonitis, from B.C. 4 to a.d. 37, when he died. 
As these principalities became vacant they were conferred by the favor of 
Caligula on 11. Herod Agrippa I., the son of Aristobulus, who in a.d. 41 
received from Claudius the further addition to his kingdom of Samaria and 
.Tudsea, and thus united under his sway all Palestine. He died, after com- 
mencing a persecution of the Christians, a.d. 44 ; whereupon the Romans 
placed Palestine once more under the government of Procurators. Those of 
Judgea were, 12. Caspius Eadus, a.d. 44 to 48 ; 13. Ventidius Cumanus, a.d. 
48 to 49 ; 14, Antonius Felix, a.d. 49 to 55; 15. Porcius Festus, a.d. 55 
to 59 ; IG. Albinus, a.d. 62 to 65 ; and 17. Gessius Florus, under whom the 
Jews broke out into open rebellion. Parallel with this later line of Procura- 
tors was the govei-nment of 17. Herod Agrippa II., first in Chalcis, and then 
in Abilene and Trachonitis, from a.d. 50 to 70, when his principality was 
swallowed up in the new arrangements consequent upon the revolt of the 
Jews and their reduction. Agrippa assisted the Romans in the Jewish War ; 
and at its close retired to Rome, where he lived till the third year of Trajan, 
A.D. 100. 

15. The proximate cause of the great Jewish revolt and of 
the " War of Independence " Avas the oppression of the Proc- 
Tyrannyof urators, and especially of Gessius Florus. But, 
tors,lD!4^/u even had the Roman governors ruled mildly, it is 



m. Revolts pi'obable that a rebellion would sooner or later 
)estructiou Iislyq broken out. The Roman system was unlike 

of Jerusalem, •' 



nit dowu. 



A.D.70. ' those of the foreign powers to which Judaea had 
in former times submitted. It was intolerant of diiferences, 
and aimed everywhere, not only at absorbing, but at assimi- 
lating the populations. The Jews could under no circum- 
stances have allowed their nationality to be crushed other- 
wise than by violence. As it was, the tyranny of Gessius 
Florus precipitated a struggle which must have come in any 
case, and made the contest fiercer, bloodier, and more pro- 
tracted than it might have been otherwise. From the lirst 
revolt against his authority to the capture of the city by Ti- 
tus was a period of nearly five years, a.d. 66 to 70. The fall 
of the city was followed by its destruction, partly as a pun- 
ishment for the desperation of the resistance, but more as a 
precaution to deprive the Jews, now felt to be really formi- 



PER. III., TART IV.] JUD^A. 35Y 

dable, of their natural rallying-point in any future rebel- 
lion. 

Works upon the history of the Jews are numerous, and many of them are 
extremely vahiable. The more important have been ah'eady noticed. (See 
p. 59.) But the following also deserve attention : 

Basnage, Histoire des Juifs depuis Jesus Christ jusqu'a present. La 
Haye, 1716 ; 15 vols. 12mo. Parts i. and ii. belong to this period. 

Prideaux, The Old and New Testament connected in the History of the 
Jews and Neighboring Nations. London, 1714; 2 vols. 8vo. Much of this 
treatise is now antiquated ; but it has not been wholly superseded by any 
later English work on the subject. 

JosT, J. M., Geschichte der Israeliten seit der Zeit der Makkahder his auf 
unsere Tage. Berlin, 1828-47 ; 10 vols. 8vo. 

Herzfeld, C, Geschichte des Volkes Israel von Vollendung des zweiten 
Tempel his zur Einsetzung des Makkahders Schimon zum hohen Priester. 
Leipzig, 1863 ; 2 vols. 8vo. An excellent sketch of the history is also con- 
tained in the valuable work of Dollinger, J. J. T,, Der Heide und der Jude. 
Miinchen, 1857. An authorized translation of this work has been published 
under the title of The Gentile and the Jew in the Courts of the Temple of 
Christ. From the German by N. Darnell. London, 1862 ; 2 vols. 8vo. 



BOOK V. 



HISTORY OF ROME FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE FALL OP THE 
WESTERN EMPIRE, A.D. 4T6, AND PARALLEL HISTORY OF PARTHIA. 



PART I.— HISTORY OF ROME, 

Preliminary MemarJcs on the Geography of Ancie7it Italy. 

1. The Italian Peninsula is the smallest of the three tracts 
which project themselves from the European continent south- 
it ii —size ward into the Mediterranean. Its greatest length 
;iiid bounda- between the Alps and Cape Spartivento is 720 

miles, and its greatest width between the Little 
St. Bernard and the hills north of Trieste is 330 miles. The 
ordinary width, however, is only 100 miles; and the area is 
thus, even including the littoral islands, not much more than 
110,000 square miles. The peninsula was bounded on the 
north and north-west by the Alps, on the east by the Adri- 
atic, on the south by the Mediterranean, and on the west by 
the Tyrrhenian Sea {Mare Tyrrheymni). 

2. The LITTORAL EXTENT of Italy is, in proportion to its 
area, very considerable, chiefly owing to the length and nar- 
Exteutofthe rowness of the peninsula; for the main coasts are 
sea-board. ^^^^ ^^^^ slightly indented. Towards the west a 
moderate number of shallow gulfs, or rather bays, give a cer- 
tain variety to the coast-line ; while on the east there is but 
one important headland, that of Gargano ; and but one bay 
of any size, that of Manfredonia. Southward, however, the 
shore has two considerable indentations in what would oth- 
erwise be but a short line, viz., the deep Gulf of Taranto and 
the shallower one of Squillace. A character generally simi- 
lar attaches to the coasts of the Italian islands, Sardinia, Sic- 
ily, and Corsica ; and hence, though a nautical tendency be- 
longs naturally to the Italian people, the tendency is not so 
distinct and pronounced as in the neighboring country of 

Greece. 

« 



TART I.] GEOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE. 359 

3. The Mountains of Italy consi^ of the two famous 
chains of the Alps and the Apennmes. (a) The Alps, which 
The mountain ^^^"^^^ Italy along the whole of its northern and 
system. The a part of its Avestern side, form a lofty barrier 

^^' naturally isolating the region from the rest of 

Europe. Nowhere less along the entire boundary-line than 
4000 feet in height, and varying from that minimum to a 
maximum of- 15,000 feet, they are penetrable by no more 
than ten or twelve difficult passes, even at the present day. 
Their general direction is from east to west, or, speaking more 
strictly, from N.E. by E. to S.W. by W. ; but, at a certain 
point in their course, the point in which they culminate, this 
direction ceases, and they suddenly change their course and 
run nearly due north and south. Mont Blanc stands at the 
corner thus formed, like a gigantic buttress at the angle of a 
mighty building. The length of the chain from Mont Blanc 
southward to the coast is about 150 miles; the length east- 
Avard, so far as the Alps are Italian, is about 330 miles. 
Thus this huge barrier guards Italy for a distance of 480 
miles with a rampart which in ancient time could scarcely 
be scaled, (b) From the point where the Alps, striking 
southward from Mont Blanc, reach most nearly to the sea, 
The Apen- ^ Secondary chain is thrown off, which runs at 
nines. ^^^t from west to east, almost parallel with the 

shore, to about the longitude of Cremona (10° east from 
Greenwich, nearly), after which it begins to trend south of 
east, and passing in this direction across about three-fourths 
of the peninsula, it again turns still more to the south, and 
proceeds in a course which is, as nearly as possible, due 
south-east, parallel to the two coasts of the peninsula, along 
its entire length. This chain is properly the Apennines. In 
modern geography its more western j)ortion bears the name 
of "The Maritime Alps;" but as the chain is really continu- 
ous from a point a little north-east of Nice to the neighbor- 
hood of Reggio (Rhegium), a single name should be given 
to it throughout; and, for distinction's sake, that name 
should certainly not be " Alps " but " Apennines." The Ap- 
ennines in Northern Italy consist of but a single chain, which 
throws off twisted spurs to the right hand and to the left ; 
but, w^hen Central Italy is reached, the character of the range 
becomes more complicated. Below Lake Fucinus the chain 



360 KOME. [BOOK v. 

bifurcates. While one range, the stronger of the two, pur- 
sues the old south-easterly direction, another of minor eleva- 
tion branches off to the south, and approaching the south 
coast very closely in the vicinity of Salernum, curves round 
and rejoins the main chain near Compsa. The range then 
proceeds in a single line nearly to Venusia, when it splits 
once more ; and while one branch runs on nearly due east 
to the extreme promontory of lapygia, the other proceeds 
almost due south to Rhegium. 

4, The most marked feature of Italian geography is the 
strong contrast in which Northern stands to Southern Italy. 
Contrast be- Northern Italy is almost all plain; Southern al- 
eraSSdSouth- i^^ost all mountain. The conformation of the 
era Italy. mountain ranges in the north leaves between the 
parallel chains of the Swiss Alps and the Upper Apennines a 
vast tract — from 100 to 150 miles in width, which (speaking 
broadly) may be called a single plain — "the Plain of the 
Po," or " the Plain of Lombardo-Venetia." In Southern It- 
aly, or the Peninsula proper, plains of more than a few miles 
in extent are rare. The Apennines, w^ith their many-twist- 
ed spurs, spread broadly over the land, and form a continu- 
ous mountain region which occupies at least one half of the 
surface. But this is not all. Where the chain is sufficient- 
ly narrow to allow of the interposition, between its base and 
the shore, of any tolerably Avide tract — as in Etruria, in 
Latium, and in Campania — separate systems of hills and 
mountains, volcanic in character, exist, and prevent the oc- 
currence of any really extensive levels. The only exception 
to this general rule is in Apulia, where an extensive tract of 
plain is found about the Candelaro, Cervaro, and Ofanto 
rivers. 

5. The Rivers of Italy are exceedingly numerous ; but 
only one or two are of any considerable size. The great riv- 

^. er is the Po (Padus), which, rising at the foot of 

Monte Viso, in lat. 44° 40', long. 7°, nearly, drains 
almost the whole of the great northern plain, receiving above 
a hundred tributaries, and having a course which, counting 
only main windings, probably exceeds 400 miles. The chief 
of its tributaries are the Duria (Dora Baltea), the Ticinus 
(Ticino), the Addua (Adda), the OUius (Oglio), and the Min- 
cius (Mincio), from the north; from the south, the Tanarus 



I'ART I.] GEOGRAl^IllCAL OUTLINE. 361 

(Tanaro), the Trebia (Trebbia), the Tarus (Taro), the Secia 
(Secchia), the Scultenna (Panaro), and the Rhenus (Reno). 
The next most im23ortant of the Italian rivers is the Athesis, 
or Adige, which, rising in the Tyrolean Alps, flows south- 
ward nearly to Yerona; after which, curving round, it runs 
parallel witli the Po into the Adriatic. Both these rivers 
are beyond the limits of the Peninsula proper. Within those 
limits the chief streams are the Arnus, Tiber, Liris, Yultur- 
nus, and Silarus on the western side of the Apennines ; the 
JEsis, Aternus, Tifernus, Frento, Cerbalus, and Aufidus to 
the east of those mountains. 

6. Italy possesses a fair number of Lakes. Most of these 
lie towards the north, on the skirts of the Alps, at the point 

where the mountains sink down into the plain. 

"The chief are the Benacus (Lago di Garda), be- 
tween Lombardy and Yenetia, the Sevinus (Lago d' Iseo), 
the Larius (Lago di Como), the Ceresius (Lago di Lugano), 
the Yerbanus (Lago Maggiore), and the Lago d' Orta, which 
is unnoticed by the ancients. There is one important lake, 
the Lacus Fucinus, in the Central Apennine region. In 
Etruria are the Trasimenus (Lago di Perugia), the Yolsinien- 
sis (Lago di Bolsena), and the Sabatinus (Lago di Bracciano). 
Besides these, there are numerous lagoons on the sea-coast, 
especially in the neighborhood of Yenice, and several mount- 
ain tarns of small size, but of great beauty. 

7. The Italian Islands are, from their size, their fertility, 
and their mineral treasures, peculiarly important. They 

constitute nearly one-fourth of the whole area of 
the country. Sicily is exceedingly productive 
both in corn and in wine of an excellent quality. Sardinia 
and Corsica are rich in minerals. Even the little island of 
Elba (Ilva) is valuable for its iron. Sicily and the Lipari 
isles yield abundance of sulphur. 

8. The only Natural Division of Italy is into Northern 
and Southern — the former comprising the plain of the Po and 
Chief divis- the mountains inclosing it, so far as they are Ital- 
ions. ian ; the latter coextensive with the Peninsula 
proper. It is usual, however, to divide the peninsula itself 
artificially into two portions by a line drawn across it from 
the mouth of the Silarus to that of the Tifernus. In this 
way a triple division of Italy is produced: and the three 

16 



362 ROME. [book v. 

parts are then called Northern, Central, and Southern. 
It will be convenient to enumerate the countries into which 
Italy was anciently j^arcelled out under the three heads fur- 
nished by this latter division. 

9. Northern Italy contained, in the most ancient times 
to which history goes back, the three countries of Liguria, 
Northern Upper Etruria, and Venetia. After a while, part 
Italy. q£ Liguria and almost the whole of Upper Etru- 
ria were occupied by Gallic immigrants ; and, the boundary- 
lines being to some extent changed, there still remained in 
this large and important tract three countries only, viz., Li- 
guria, Venetia, and Gallia Cisalpina ; the last-named having, 
as it were, taken the place of Upper Etruria. 

10. Liguria was the tract at the extreme west of Northern 
Italy. Before the Gallic invasion it probably reached to the 

Pennine and Graian Alps ; but in later times it 
^'^ ' ' was regarded as bounded on the north by the Po, 
on the west by the Alps from Monte Viso (Yesulus) south- 
ward, on the south by the Mediterranean, and on the east by 
the river Macra. It was a country almost entirely mount- 
ainous; for spurs from the Alps and Apennines occupy the 
whole tract between the mountain-ranges and the river Po, 
as far down as long. 9°. Liguria derived its name from its 
inhabitants, the Ligures or Ligyes, a race who once occupied 
the entire coast from below the mouth of the Arno to Mas- 
silia. Its chief towns Avere Genua (Genoa), Niece (Nice), 
and Asta (Asti). 

11. Venetia was at the opposite side, or extreme east, of 
North Italy. It is difficult to say what were its original or 

,, ,. natural limits. From the earliest times of which 

we have any knowledge, the Veneti were always 
encroached upon, first by the Etruscans and then by the 
Gauls, until a mere corner of North Italy still remained in 
their possession. This corner lay between Histria on the 
one side, and the Lesser Meduacus upon the other; south- 
ward it extended to the Adriatic Sea, northward to the 
flanks of the Alps. It was a tract of country for the most 
part exceedingly flat, well watered by streams flowing from 
the Alps, and fertile. The chief city in ancient times was 
Patavium, on the Lesser Meduacus ; but this place was 
afterwards eclipsed by Aquileia. 



PART I.] GEOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE. 363 

12. The Etruscan state, which the Gauls conquered, was a 
confederacy of tAvelve cities, whose territory reached from 
Gallia cisaipi- the Ticinus on the west to the Adriatic and the 
""• mouths of the Po upon the east. Among its cit- 
ies Avere Melpum, Mediolanum (Milan), Mantua, Verona, Ha- 
tria, and Felsina or Bononia. Northward it was bounded 
by the Alps, southward by the Apennines and the course 
of the Utis, or perhaps by that of the Rubicon. When the 
Gauls made their conquests they overstepped these bounda- 
ries, taking from the Ligurians all their territory north of 
the Padus, and perhaps some to the south, about Placentia 
and Parma, encroaching on the Yeneti towards the east, and 
southward advancing into Umbria. Thus Gallia Cisalpina 
had larger limits than had belonged to North Etruria. It 
was bounded on the north and west by the Alps ; on the 
south by Liguria, the main chain of the Aj^ennines, and the 
^sis river ; on the east by the Adriatic and Yenetia. The 
whole tract, except in some swampy districts, was richly fer- 
tile. While it remained Gallic, it was almost without cities. 
The Gauls lived, themselves, in open unwalled villages, and 
suiFered most of the Etruscan towns to fall to decay. Some, 
as Melpum, disappeared. A few maintained themselves as 
Etruscan, in a state of semi-independence ; e. g., Mantua and 
Yerona. In Roman times, however, the country was occu- 
pied by a number of most important cities, chiefly Roman 
colonies. Among these w^ere, in the region south of the Po, 
Placentia, Parma, Mutina (now Modena), Bononia (now Bo- 
logna), Ravenna, and Ariminium (now Rimini) ; and across 
the river to the north of it, Augusta Taurinorum (Turin), 
Ticinum (Pavia), Mediolanurii (Milan), Brixia (Brescia), Cre- 
mona, Mantua, Yerona, and Yincentia (now Yicenza). 

13. Central Italy, or the upper portion of the Peninsula 
proper, comprised six countries — Etruria, Latium, and Cam- 
centeal Ita- pania towards the west ; Umbria, Picenum, and 
^'^'' the Sabine territory (which had no general name) 
towards the east. These countries included the three most 
important in Italy, viz., Latium, Etruria, and the territory of 
the Sabines. 

14. Etruria, or Tyrrhenia (as it was called by the Greeks), 
was the tract immediately south and west of the northern 
Apennines, interposed between that chain and the Medi- 



364 ROME. [book v. 

terranean. It was bounded on the north by Li- 
guria and Gallia Cisalpina ; on the east by Umbria 
and the old Sabine country ; on the west by the Mediterra- 
nean Sea; and on the south by Latium. The line of separa- 
tion between it and the rest of the continent was very marked, 
being first the strong chain of the Apennines, and then, al- 
most from its source, the river Tiber. Etruria was watered 
by two main streams, the Arnus (Arno), and the Clanis 
(Chiana), a tributary of the Tiber. It was for the most part 
mountainous, consisting in its northern and eastern portions 
of strong spurs throAvn off from the Apennines, and in its 
southern and Avestern, of a separate system of rocky hills, 
ramifying irregularly, and reaching from the valleys of the 
Arnus and Clanis very nearly to the coast. The little level 
land which it contained was along the courses of the rivers 
and near the sea-shore. The soil was generally rich, but 
in places marshy. The country contained three important 
lakes. (See § 6.) The original Etrurian state consisted of 
a confederacy of twelve cities, among which were certainly 
Volsinii, Tarquinii, Yetulonium, Perusia, and Clusium ; and 
probably Volaterrse, Arretium, Rusellae, Veil, and Agylla or 
Caere. Other important towns were Pisse (Pisa), and Faesulse 
(Fiesole), north of the Arnus ; Populonia and Cosa, on the 
coast between the Arnus and the Tiber; Cortona in the Cla- 
nis valley ; and Falerii near the Tiber, about eighteen miles 
north of Veil. 

15. Latium lay below Etruria, on the left bank of the 
Tiber. It was bounded on the north by the Tiber, the Anio, 
and the Upper Liris rivers ; on the west and 
south by the Mediterranean; on the east by the 
Lower Liris and a spur of the Apennines. These, however, 
were not its original limits, but those whereto it ultimately 
attained. Anciently many non-Latin tribes inhabited por- 
tions of the territory. The Yolsci held the isolated range 
of hills reaching from near Prgeneste to the coast at Tarra- 
cina or Anxur. The ^qui were in possession of the Mons 
Algidus, and of the mountain-range between Prseneste and 
the Anio. The Hernici were located in the valley of the 
Trerus, a tributary of the Liris. On the Lower Liris were 
established the Ausones. The nation of the Latins formed, 
we are told, a confederacy of thirty cities, Alba having origi- 



PART I.] GEOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE. 3G5 

nally the pre-eminency. Among the thirty the most im- 
portant were the following : — Tibur, Gabii, Praeneste, Tuscu- 
lum, Yelitrae, Aricia, Lanuvium, Laurentum, Lavinium, Ar- 
dea, Antiiim, Circeii, Anxur or Tarracina, Setia, Norba, and 
Satricum. Latiiim w^as chiefly a low plain, but diversified 
towards the north by spurs from the Apennines, in the cen- 
tre and towards the south by two important ranges of hills. 
One of these, known as " the Volscian range," extends in a 
continuous line from near Prseneste to Tarracina ; the other, 
which is quite separate and detached, rises out of the plain 
between the Volscian range and the Tiber, and is known as 
"the Alban range," or the "Mons Algidus." Both are in 
the western part of the country. The eastern is compara- 
tively a flat region. Here were Anagnia, the old capital of 
the Hernici, Arpinum, Fregellse, Aquinum, Interamna ad Li- 
rim ; and, on the coast, Lantulse, Fundi, FormiaB, Minturnae, 
and Vescia. 

16. Campania in its general character very much resem- 
bled Latium, but the isolated volcanic hills which here di- 

• . versified the plain were loftier and placed nearer 
the coast. To the extreme south of the country 
a strong spur ran out from the Apennines terminating in the 
promontory of Minerva, the southern protection of the Bay 
of Naples. Campania extended along the coast from the Li- 
ris to the Silarus, and reached inland to the more southern 
of the two Apennine ranges, which, separating a little below 
Lake Fucinus, reunite at Compsa. The plain country was 
all rich, especially that about Capua. Among the principal 
Campanian towns were Capua, the capital, Nola and Tea- 
num in the interior, and upon the coast Sinuessa, Cumae, Pu- 
teoli, Parthenope, or Neapolis, Herculaneum, Pompeii, Sur- 
rentum, Salernum, and Picentia. 

17. Umbria lay east of Etruria, from which it was sepa- 
rated, first by the range of the Apennines, and then by the 

Umbria ^'iver Tiber. It was bounded on the north by 
Gallia Cisalpina; on the east and south-east by 
Picenum and the Sabine country; on the south-west and 
west by Etruria. Before the invasion of the Gauls it reach- 
ed as far north as the Rubicon, and included all the Adriatic 
coast between that stream and the ^sis ; but after the com- 
ing of the Senones this tract was lost, and Umbria was shut 



3gQ ROME. [book v. 

out from the sea. The Umbrian territory was ahnost whol- 
ly mountainous, consisting, as it did, chiefly of the main 
chain of the Apennines, together with the spurs on either 
side of the chain, from the source of the Tiber to the junc- 
tion with the Tiber of the Nar. Some rich plains, however, 
occurred in the Tiber and Lower Nar valleys. The chief 
towns of Umbria were Iguvium, famous for its inscriptions ; 
Sentinum, the scene of the great battle with the Gauls and 
Samnites ; Spoletium (now Spoleto) ; Interamna (now Ter- 
ni) ; and Narnia (Narni), which, though on the left bank of 
the Nar, was still reckoned to Umbria. 

18. Picenum extended along the coast of the Adriatic 
from the ^sis to the Matrinus (Piomba) river. It was com- 
posed mainly of spurs from the Apennines, but 
contained along the coast some flat and fertile 

country. The chief towns were Ancona, on the coast, Fir- 
,mum (Fermo), Ascuhim Picenum (Ascoli), and Hadria (Atri), 
in the interior. 

19. The territory of the Sabine races, in which Picenum 
ought perhaps to be included, was at once the most exten- 
The Sabine sive and the most advantageously situated of all 
territory. ^^le countries of Central Italy. In length, from 
the Mons Fiscellus (Monte Rotondo) to the Mons Vultur 
(Monte Vulture), it exceeded 200 miles ; while in breadth it 
reached very nearly from sea to sea, bordering the Adriatic 
from the Matrinus to the Tifernus rivers, and closely ap- 
proaching the Mediterranean in the vicinity of Salernum. 
In the north it comprised all the valleys of the Upper ISTar 
and its tributaries, together with a portion of the valley of 
the Tiber, the plain country south and east of Lake Fucinus, 
and the valleys of the Suinus and Aternus rivers. Its cen- 
tral mass was made up of the valleys of the Sagrus, Trinius, 
and Tifernus, together with the mountain-ranges between 
them ; while southward it comprised the whole of the great 
Samnite upland drained by the Yulturnus, and its tributa- 
ries. The territory had many distinct political divisions. 
The north-western tract, about the Nar and Tiber, reaching 
from the main chain of the Apennines to the Anio, was the 
country of the old Sabines (Sabini), the only race to which 
that name is applied by the ancient writers. East and 
south-east of this region, the tract about Lake Fucinus, and 



TART I.] GEOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE. 367 

the valleys of the Suinus and Atevnus rivers, were in the 
possession of the League of the Four Cantons, the Marsi, 
Marrucini, Peligni, and Vestini, who probably were Sabine 
races. Still flirther to the east, the valleys of the Sagrus 
and Trinius, and the coast tract from Ortona to the Tifernus, 
formed the country of the Frentani. South and south-east 
of this was Samnium, comprising the high upland, the main 
chain of the Apennines, and the eastern flank of that chain 
for a certain distance. The chief of the Sabine towns were 
Reate on the Velinus, a tributary of the Nar; Teate and 
Aternum on the Aternus ; Marrubium on Lake Fucinus ; and 
Beneventum and Bovianum in Samnium. 

20. Southern Italy, or the tract below the Tifernus and 
Silarus rivers, contained four countries — on the west, Luca- 
souTHEEN ^^^ ^^^^ Bruttium ; on the east, Apulia and Mes- 
iTALY. sapia, or, as it was sometimes called, lapygia. 
The entire number of distinct countries in ancient Italy was 
thus thirteen. 

21. Lucania extended along the west coast of Italy from 
the Silarus to the Latis river. Its boundary on the north 

was formed by the Silarus, the chain of the Apen- 
nines from Compsa to the Mons Vultur, and the 
course of the Bradanus (Brandano). Eastward, its border 
was the shore of the Tarentine Gulf; southward, where it 
adjoined Bruttium, the line of demarkation ran from the 
Lower Laiis across the mountains to the Crathis, or river of 
Thurii. The country was both picturesque and fertile, di- 
versified by numerous spurs from the Apennine range, and 
watered by a multitude of rivers. It had few native cities 
of any importance ; but the coasts Avere thickly occupied by 
Grecian settlements of great celebrity. Among these were, 
on the west coast, Posidonia or Psestum, Elea or Yelia, Pyx- 
us or Buxentum, and Laiis ; on the east, Metapontum, Hera- 
cleia, Pandosia, Siris, Sybaris, and Thurii. (See pp. 177-182.) 

22. Bruttium adjoined Lucania on the south, and was a 
country very similar in character. Its chief native city was 

Consentia, in the interior, near the sources of the 
Crathis river. On the western coast were the 

Greek towns of Temesa, Terina, Hipponium, and Rhegium; 

on the eastern those of Croton, Caulonia, and Locri. 

23. Apulia lay entirely on the eastern coast, adjoining 



368 ROME. [book v. 

Samnium upon the west, and separated from the country of 
the Frentani by the Tifernus river. The range of 
the Apennines, extending from the Mons Vultur 
eastward as far as long. 17° 40', divided it from lapygia. 
Apulia differed from all the other countries of the Peninsula 
proper in being almost wholly a plain. Except in the north- 
west corner of the province, no spurs of any importance here 
quit the Apennines, but from their base extends a vast and 
rich level tract, from twenty to forty miles wide, intersected 
by numerous streams, and diversified towards its more east- 
ern portion by a number of lakes. The tract is especially 
adapted for the grazing of cattle. Among its rivers are the 
Aufidus, on the banks of which Cannje was fought, the Cer- 
balus, and the river of Arpi. The only mountainous part of 
Apulia is the north and north-west, where the Apennines 
send down to the coast two strongly-marked spurs, one be- 
tween the Tifernus and the Frento rivers, the other, east of 
the Frento, a still stronger and more important range, which 
running towards the north-east reaches the coast, and forms 
the well-known rocky promontory of Garganum. The chief 
cities of Apulia were Larinum, near the Tifernus ; Luceria, 
Sipontum, and Arpi, north of the Cerbalus ; Salapia, between 
the Cerbalus and Aufidus ; and Canusium, Cannae, and Ye- 
nusia, south of that river. It was usual to divide Apulia 
into two regions, of which the north-western was called Dau- 
nia, the south-eastern Peucetia. 

24. Messapia, or lapygia, lay south and east of Apulia, 
comprising the entire long promontory which has been call- 
ed the " heel " of Italy, and a triangular tract be- 

apygia. ^^ggjj ^i^e gr^g^ Apennine range and the river 
Bradanus. Towards the east it was low and flat, full of nu- 
merous small lakes, and without important rivers; westward 
it was diversified by numerous ranges of hills, spurs from 
the Apulian Apennines, which sheltered it upon the north 
and rendered it one of the softest and most luxurious of the 
Italian countries. The most important of the lapygian cities 
was Taras, or Tarentum, the famous Lacedaemonian colony. 
(See p. 111.) Other. Greek settlements were Callipolis (now 
Gallipoli), and Hydrus or Hydruntum (now Otranto). The 
chief native town was Brundusium. 

25. The geography of Italy is incomplete without a de- 



PART I.] GEOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE. 339 

scriptioii of the principal islands. These were three in num- 
isLANDs. ^^^'' Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica. There were 
also numerous islets along the western and a few 
off the eastern coast, which will require a very brief notice. 

26. Sicily, which is estimated to contain about ten thou- 
sand square miles, is an irregular triangle, the sides of which 
Sicily. ^^^^ respectively the north, the east, and the 
south-west. None of the coasts is much indent- 
ed ; but of the three, the northern has the most noticeable 
bays and headlands. Here are the gulfs of Castel-a-Mare, 
Palermo, Patti, and Milazzo ; the headlands of Trapani 
(Drepanum), Capo St. Vito, Capo di Gallo, Capo Zaffarana, 
Capo Orlando, Capo Calava, and Capo Bianco. The south- 
western, and most of the eastern, shores run in smooth 
lines; but towards the extreme south-east of the island 
there is a fair amount of indentation. Good harbors are 
numerous. The most remarkable are those of Messana and 
Syracuse, the former protected by a curious curved strip of 
land, resembling a sickle, whence the old name of Zancle ; 
the latter rendered secure in all winds by the headland of 
Plemmyrium and the natural breakwater of Ortygia. There 
are also excellent ports at Lilybaeum and Panormus (Paler- 
mo). The mountain system of Sicily consists of a main 
chain, the continuation of the Bruttian Apennines (Asj^ro- 
monte), which traverses the island from east to west, be- 
ginning near Messina (Messana) and terminating at Cape 
Drepanum. This main chain, known in its different parts 
by various names, throws off, about midway in its course, 
a strong spur, which strikes south-east and terminates in 
Cape Pachynus (Passaro). Thus the island is divided by 
its mountain system into three tracts of comparative low- 
land—a narrow tract facing northward between the main 
chain and the north coast ; a long and broad tract facing 
the south-west, bounded on the north by the western half 
of the main chain, and on the east by the spur; and a broad 
but comparatively short tract facing the east, bounded on 
the west by the spur, and on the north by the eastern half 
of the main chain. In none of these lowlands, however, is 
there really much flat country. Towards the north and 
towards the south-west, both the main chain and the spui- 
throw off numerous branches, which occupy almost the 

16* 



370 ROME. [book v, 

whole country between the rivers ; while towards the east, 
where alone are there any extensive plains, volcanic action 
has thrown up the separate and independent mountain of 
Etna, which occupies with its wide-spreading roots almost 
one-third of what should naturally have been lowland. 
Thus Sicily, excepting in the tract between Etna and Syra- 
cuse, where the famous " Piano di Catania " extends itself, is 
almost entirely • made up of mountain and valley, and, in a 
military point of view, is an exceedingly strong and difficult 
country. Its chief rivers are the Simsethus on the east, 
which drains nearly the whole of the great plain; the Hi- 
mera and Halycus on the south ; and the Hypsa, near the 
extreme south-west corner. The only important native 
town was Enna, nearly in the centre of the island ; all the 
other cities of any note were settlements of foreigners ; 
Eryx and Egesta, or Segesta, of the Trojans (?) ; Lilybseum, 
Motya, Panormus, and Soloeis, or Soluntum, of the Cartha- 
ginians ; Himera, Messana, Tauromenium, Naxos, Catana, 
ilegara Hyblaea, Syracuse, Camarina, Gela, Agrigentum, and 
Selinus, of the Greeks. (On the history of the Greek settle- 
ments, see pp. 181-190.) 

27. Sardinia, which modern surveys show to be larger 
than Sicily, has an area of probably about 11,000 square 
miles. It is an oblong parallelogram, the sides 
of which may be viewed roughly as facing the 
four cardinal points, though in reality the south side has a 
slight inclination towards the east, and the north side a 
stronger one towards the west. Though less mountainous 
than either Sicily or Corsica, Sardinia is traversed by an 
important chain which runs parallel with the eastern and 
western shores, but nearer the former, from Cape Lungo-Sar- 
do on the north to Cape Carbonara at the extreme south of 
the island. This chain throws out numerous short branch 
ranges on either side, which cover nearly the whole of the 
eastern half of the island. The western half has three sepa- 
rate mountain-clusters of its own. One, the smallest, is at 
the extreme north-west corner of the island, between the 
Gulfs of Asinara and Alghero ; another, three or four times 
larger, fills the south- Avestern corner, reaching from Cape 
Spartivento to the Gulf of Oristano. Both these are, like 
the main range, of primary (granitic) formation. The third 



PART I.J GEOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE. 3 71 

cluster, which is interposed between the two others, occupy- 
ing the whole tract extending northward from the Gulf of 
Oristano and the river Tirso to the coast between the Turri- 
lano and Coguinas rivers, is much the largest of the three, 
and is of comparatively recent volcanic formation. These 
mountain-clusters, together with the main range, occupy by 
far the greater portion of the island. They still, however, 
leave room for some important plains, as especially that of 
Campidano on the south, which stretches across from the 
Gulf of Cagliari to that of Oristano ; that of Ozieri on the 
north, on the u]3per course of the Coguinas; and that of 
Sassari in the north-west, which reaches across the isthmus 
from Alghero to Porto Torres. Sardinia is fairly fertile, but 
has always been noted for its malaria. Its chief river was 
the Thyrsus (Tirso). The principal cities were Caralis (Cag- 
liari), on the south coast, in the bay of the same name; Sulci, 
at the extreme south-west of the island, opposite the Insula 
Plumbaria ; Neapolis, in the Gulf of Asinara ; and Olbia, 
towards the north-eastern end of the island. There was no 
city of any importance in the interior. 

28. Corsica, situated directly to the north of Sardinia, 
was more mountainous and rugged than either of the other 

^ . two S'reat islands. A stronsj mountain-chain ran 

through the island from north to south, culmina- 
tmg towards the centre in the Mons Antaeus (Monte Roton- 
do). Numerous branch ranges intersected the country on 
either side of the main chain, rendering the entire region one 
of constant mountain and valley. Streams were numerous ; 
but the limits of the island were too narrow for them to at- 
tain any considerable size. The chief town was Alalia (af- 
terwards Aleria), a colony of the Phocasans. Besides this, 
the only places of any importance were Mariana, on the east 
coast, above Alalia, Centurimum (now Centuri), on the west 
side of the northern promontory, tJrcinium on the west coast 
(now Ajaccio), and Talcinum (now Corte) in the interior. 

29. The lesser islands adjacent to Italy were Ilva (Elba), 
between northern Corsica and the main-land ; Igilium (Gi- 

glio) and Dianium (Giannuti), opposite the Mons 

Argentarius in Etruria; Palmaria, Pontia, Sino- 

nia, and Pandataria, off Anxur; Pithecussa (Ischia), Prochy- 

ta (Procida), and Caprese (Capri), in the Bay of Naples ; 



372 ROME. [book v. 

Stroiigyle (Stromboli), Euonymns (Panaria), Lipara (Lipari), 
Vulcania (Volcano), Didyme (Salina),Phoemcussa (Felicudi), 
Ericussa (Alicudi), and IJstica, off the north coast of Sicily ; 
the Agates Insulse, off the western point of the same island ; 
the Chcerades Insulge, off Tarentum; and Trimetus (Tremiti) 
in the Adriatic, north of the Mons Garganus. 

On the geography of Italy, the most important works are — 

Cluverius, Italia Antiqua. Lugd. Bat., 1624 ; 2 toIs. folio. 

RoMANELLi, Antica Topograjia istorica del Regno di Napoli. Napoli, 
1815 ; 3 vols. 4to. 

Mannert, K., Geographie der Griechen und Romer aus ihren Schriften 
dargestellt. Leipzig, 1801-29 ; 10 vols. 8vo. 

Swinburne, H., Travels in the Two Sicilies in the Years 1777-80. 
London, 1783-85; 2 vols. 4to. 

Dennis, G., Cities and Cemeteries of the Etruscans. London, 1848; 2 
vols. 8vo. 

Abeken, Mittel-Italien vor den Zeiten Romischer Herrschaft. Stuttgart, 
1843; 8vo. 

Cramer, Geographical and Historical Description of Ancient Italy. Ox- 
ford, 1826 ; 2 vols. 8vo. 

A comprehensive work on the subject, combining local knowledge with ad- 
vanced scholarship and a good knowledge of the ancient authorities, is still a 
desideratum. 



SKETCH OF THE HISTORY. 

FIRST PERIOD. 

The Ancient Traditional History from the Earliest Times to the Commence- 
ment of the Republic^ B.C. 508. 

Sources. 1. Native. A few fragments of the Fasti Triumphales be- 
long to this early period ; but such knowledge of it as Ave possess is derived 
mainly from the works of historians. Among these the first place must be 
assigned to the fragments of the early Annalists, especially of Q. Fabius 
PiCTOR, many of which are preserved in Dionysius of Halicarnassus. The 
most copious native writer on the period is Livy, who delivers an account of 
it in his First Book. Other native authorities are Cicero, who has sketched 
the constitutional history of the period in his treatise De Repuhlica (book 
ii.), and Florus, who has briefly epitomized it. The portion of Velleius 
Paterculus which treated of the time is almost entirely lost. No lives of 
Nepos touch on it. Many allusions to it are contained, however, in the 
works of the poets and grammarians, as Ovid (Fasti), Virgil (/Eneid, book 
vi.), Servius {ad yEneid.), Festus, and others. 2. Foreign. The Greek 
writers are fuller on the early history than the Roman. The most important 
of them is Dionysius of Halicarnassus, in whose work (Archceologia Ro- 



TART I., PER. I.] RACES OF ITALY. 373 

mana ; ed. Eeiske. Lipsice, 1774-77 ; G vols. 8vo) the ante-regal and regal 
periods occupy the first four books. Next to Dionysius may be placed 
Plutarch, whose Lives of Romulus, Numa, and Poplicola bear upon this 
portion of the history. The part of Diodorus Siculus which treated 
of the time (books vii.-x.) is lost, with the exception of a few brief frag- 
ments. 

On the value of these sources the most diametrically opposite opinions con- 
tinue to be held after a controversy which has lasted more than a century. 
The negative criticism, which was begun by Perizonius, Bayle, and Beau- 
fort, received a strong impulse, early in the present century, from the great 

work of 

NiEBUHR, B. G., iJtimisc/ie GescUchte. Berlin, 1826-32 ; 3 vols. 8vo. 
(First and second volumes translated by Julius Hare and Bp. Thirlwall, 
Cambridge, 1831-32 ; third volume translated by Dr. W. Smith, and Dr. L. 
ScHMiTz. London, 1842 ; 8vo) ; which was followed in England by the 
very popular work of 

Arnold, Dr. T., History of Rome. London, 1838-43 ; 3 vols. 8vo ; and 
in Germany, after an interval of a quarter of a century, by that of 

SCHWEGLER, A., Romische Geschichte. Tiibingen, 1853-58 ; 3 vols. 8vo. 
Written in the true spirit pf the Tubingen School. 

The doubts of the last-named writer, falling on congenial soil in this coun- 
try, produced an elaborate, but intensely skeptical work, which has probably 
exhausted all that can be said on the negative side of the subject, viz. : 

Lewis, Sir G. C, On the Credibility/ of the Early Roman History. Lon, 
don, 1855 ; 2 vols. 8vo. 

On the opposite side of the question some important treatises have been 
published recently. Note especially the following : 

Ampere, J. J., VEistoire Romaine a Rome. Paris, 18G2-64 ; 4 vols. 8vo. 
The writer argues that the discoveries made by recent excavations with re- 
gard to the original Rome strongly confirm the early traditional history. 

Dyer, T. H., History of the City of Rome. London, 1865 ; 8vo; and the 
ssime writer's History of the Kings of Rome. London, 1868 ; 8vo. It is Mr. 
Dyer's object to show, first, that authentic materials for the early history ex- 
isted in the times of the first Annalists, b.c. 220 to 200 ; and, secondly, that 
the internal difficulties and discrepancies are not such as to render the histo- 
ry that has come down to us incredible. 

Works of a more dogmatic and less argumentative character, embracing 
the early period, or distinctly written upon it, worthy of the reader's atten- 
tion, are the following : 

Newman, P., Regal Rome; an Introduction to Roman History. London, 
1852; 12mo. 

MoMMSEN, Th., Romische Geschichte. 3d edition. Berlin, 1861 ; 3 vols. 
8vo. The value of this very original work is greatly diminished by the al- 
most entire absence of references. (Translated by W. P. Dickson. Lon- 
don, 1862; 3 vols, small 8vo.) 

Keightley, T., History of Rome. London, 1836. A useful compendium. 
Koiitvb:^,^., Romische Geschichte. Heidelberg, 1843 ; 8vo. 
LiDDELL, H. G., History of Rome from the Earliest Times to the Estab- 
lishment of the Empire. London, 1855; 2 vols. 8 vo. 



374 ROME. [ho )K V. 

Gregorovius, F., Geschichte der Stadt Rom. Stuttgart, 1859-62 ; 4 vols. 
8vo. 

Petek, C, Geschichte Roms. Halle, 1865-67; 3 vols. 8vo. 

1. Italy was inhabited, at the earliest times to which our 
knowledge carries iis back, by five principal races. These 
Chief races of were the Ligurians, the Venetians, the Etruscans, 
ancieut Italy. ^Yiq Italians proper, and the lapygians. The Li- 
gurians and Venetians may have been branches of one stock, 
the lUyrian ; but there is no sufficient evidence to prove this 
connection. They were weak and unimportant races, con- 
fined to narrow regions in the north, and without any influ- 
ence on the general history of Italy. Setting them aside, 
therefore, for the present, we may confine our attention to 
the three other races. 

2. The lapygians were probably among the earliest set- 
tlers. The heel of Italy, which stretches out towards Greece, 
Theiapygi- iiivites Colonization from that quarter; and it 
^^^' would seem that at a very remote date a stream 
of settlers passed across the narrow sea from the Hellenic to 
the Italic peninsula, and landing on the lapygian promontory 
spread themselves northward and westward over the greater 
portion of the foot of Italy. The language of the race in 
question remains in numerous inscriptions which have been 
discovered in the Terra di Otranto, and shows them to have 
been nearly connected with the Greeks. Their worshij) of 
Greek gods, and the readiness with which, at a later date, 
they became actually Hellenized, point in the same direction. 
We have reason to conclude that a race kindred with the 
Greeks held in the early times the greater part of Southern 
Italy, which was thus prepared for the later more positively 
Hellenic settlements. To this stock appear to have belong- 
ed the Messapians, Peucetians, (Enotrians, the Chaones or 
Chones, and perhaps the Daunii. 

It is supposed by some that the lapygian migration took place by land, the 
settlers passing round the coast of the Adriatic Sea, and being pushed south- 
ward by later immigrants. This is possible ; but migration by sea may be 
accomplished even by a very primitive people. 

3. The Italians proper, who in the historical times occupy 
with their numerous tribes almost the whole of Central Ita- 
The itaiiaus ly, appear to have been later in-comers than the 
proper. lapygians^ to have proceeded from the north, and 



PART I., PEK. I.] RACES OF ITALY. 375 

to have pressed with great weight on the semi-Greek popu- 
lation of the southern regions. They comprisecl, apparently, 
four principal subordinate races ; viz., the Umbrians, the Sa- 
bines, the Oscans, and the Latins. Of these the Umbrians 
and Oscans were very closely connected. The Latins were 
quite distinct. The Sabines are suspected to have been near- 
ly allied to the Osco-Umbrians. 

The Sabine race was remarkable for its numerou's subdivisions. It com- 
prised the Sabini proper, tlie Samnites, the Picentes (probably), the Marsi, 
Marrucini, Peligni, and Vestini, the Frentani, the Campani, and the Lucani. 
The Samnites had also subdivisions of their own, e. g., the Caraceni, the 
Pentri, and the Hirpini. 

There were also a considerable number of Oscan tribes ; as the Volsci, 
-^qui, Heraici (?), Aurunci, Ausones, and Apuli. These names seem, how- 
ever, to be chiefly variants of the general ethnic title. 

4. The Tuscans or Etruscans, the most powerful nation 01 
the north, diifered in race completely from all the other in- 
TheEtrus- habitants of Italy. It appears to be, on the 
cans. whole, most probable that they were TuranianSj 

of a type similar to that which is found in various parts of 
Europe— Lapps and Finns in the extreme north, Esthonians 
on the Baltic, Basques in Spain — remnants of a primitive 
population that once, we may supjjose, overspread the whole 
of Europe. The original seat of the race, so far as it is trace- 
able, seems to have been Rhsetia, or the country about the 
head-streams of the Rhine, the Inn, and the Adige. Their 
native name was Ras ; and this name, changed by the Ital- 
ians into Rhaesi or Rhaeti, was long attached to the mountain 
region from which their hordes had issued. These hordes at 
a very remote time spread themselves over the plain of the 
Po from the Ticinus to beyond the Adige, and formed there, 
as we are told, a confederacy of twelve cities. (See p. 363.) 
After having flourished in this tract for an indefinite period, 
they overflowed the mountain barrier to the south, and occu- 
pying the region between the northern Apennines and the 
Tiber, formed there a second, quite separate, confederacy, 
consisting, like the northern one, of twelve distinct states. 
Subsequently, but probably later than the period now under 
consideration, they passed the Tiber and established tempo- 
rarily a dominion in Campania, where Capua and Nola were 
cities founded by them. 



376 KOME. [book v. 

Characteristics or the Etruscans. Physically, they were a brawny, 
stout race, short in stature, with large heads and thick arms, oifering a strong 
contrast to the graceful and slender Italians. Their religious ideas were 
gloomy and strange. They delighted in auguries, in the mystical handling 
of numbers, and in the exact observance of a minute and manifold ritual. 
There can be no doubt that they had made a considerable advance in the 
arts ; but it is still a question how far the works of art found in their tombs 
are of native production, how far mere imports from Greece. They were 
certainly the best architects of all the early Italian races, and the only race 
that showed a marked inclination to maritime pursuits. Tuscan corsairs 
covered the Western Mediterranean from a very early time; and Agylla 
had, before b.c. 550, an important trade. 

Among the most important works on the interesting subject of the lan- 
guage and art of the Etruscans are — 

Ingrirami, Monumenti Etncschi. Eiesole, 1821-26 ; 7 vols. 4to. 

Lanzi, Saggio di Lingua Etrusca e di altre antiche d'ltalia. Eoma, 
1789 ; 8vo. The edition of Florence, 1824-25, is the best. 
. Dennis, G., Cities and Cemeteries of the Etruscans. (See p. 372.) 

MiJLLER, K. O., Die Etrusker. Breslau, 1828 ; 2 vols. 8vo. 

Mi calx, Storia degli Antichi Popoli Italiani. Firenze, 1832 ; 3 vols. 8vo. 

5. There can be no doubt that the Romans belonged, at 
any rate predominantly, to the second of the three races who 
oric^inof the ^cem in the early times to have divided the pe- 
Romans: the ninsula amono' them — the race which has been 

Troian colony. 

here termed, kut k^oxw, " Italic." They had, in- 
deed, a tradition which connected them with a body of im- 
migrants who were thought to have come by sea into Italy 
from the distant city of Troy, at a date which preceded by 
nearly 500 years the building of the city. And this tradi- 
tion was brought out into great prominence by writers of 
the Imperial times. But, whatever amount of truth we may 
suppose to be contained in the " story of ^neas," it is evi- 
dent that the crews of a few vessels landing on a thickly- 
peopled coast, and belonging to a race not much more civ- 
ilized than that to which they came, could make but a very 
slight impression on the previous population, in which they 
would be sure to be very soon swallowed up and absorbed. 
The Trojan colony to Latium is therefore, whether true or 
false, a matter of small consequence — it had no part in de- 
termining the ethnic character of the Roman people. 

6. Nor is there much difficulty in deciding to which of 
the branch races included here under the general name of 
The Romans " Italic," the Romans belonged. Language is the 
really Latms. -^o^i Certain indication of race, and the language 



PAKT I., PER. I.J RACES OF ITALY. 377 

wliich the Romans spoke was Latin. Their own traditions 
connected the early city in a special way with Lavinium and 
Alba Longa ; and these cities were universally allowed "to 
have been two of the thirty Latin towns. To whatever ex- 
tent the Romans were a mixed j^eople — and that they were 
so to some extent is admitted by all — it is impossible to 
doubt that they were predominantly and essentially — not 
Oscans, not Sabines, much less Umbrians — but Latins. 

7. It is, however, far from easy to determine in what ex- 
act position the original Rome stood to the Latin stock. It 
Romeprobji- ^^ clcar that she was not a mere Latin town, not 
Wacoiouyof ouc of the thirty. She stands in the early times 
° ' of the monarchy quite outside the confederacy ; 
and a peculiar character belongs to her which is not simj^ly 
and wholly Latin. The tradition which makes her founda- 
tion the spontaneous act of a band of adventurous young 
men, whose affection for the locality leads them to set up a 
new town, which is also a new state, on the spot where they 
have been wont to pasture their flocks, is at variance with 
the condition of Italy at the time, which was not a wilder- 
ness, with abundant waste land, whereon the first comer 
might settle, but a thickly-peopled country, where every 
inch of ground had an owner, or was disj^uted between 
neighboring tribes. If there be any truth at all in the ac- 
count which has come down to us of the original settlement, 
that account must be a poeticized version of a very ordinary 
occurrence. The Latin towns were in the habit of extend- 
ing or defending their territories by the establishment of 
colonies. Nothing is more easily conceivable than that the 
original Rome should have been a colony from Alba Longa, 
planted in a strong though unhealthy position at the ex- 
treme verge of the territory, where it was threatened by the 
Tuscans upon the west and still more by the advancing Sa- 
bines towards the north. Rome herself was afterwards ac- 
customed to plant her colonies in e:3^actly such positions. 
Among the various conjectures which critics have formed 
on the subject of the origin of Rome, that which regards her 
as a colony from Alba appears to be the most worthy of ac- 
ceptance. 

The list of the Alban kings can not be regarded as in any sense belonging 
to Roman history, for the history of a colony dates from its foundation. 



m. 



378 ROME. [book v. 

Were the list genuine, it would be an important record for early Italian 
history, as distinct from Roman. But the catalogue has all the appearance 
of being a forgery. 

8. But if Rome was originally a mere Alban dependency, 
it is certain that she did not long continue such. The first 

. , clearly marked fact in her history is her entrance 

Eome lude- . •' . ...•'. ^ , 

pendent. The mto voluntary union with the natives oi an ad- 
with'thrsa- jacent Sabine settlement, an act which implies 
^^^^' independence and the assertion of sovereignty. 

The colony must either previously have shaken off the yoke 
of the mother-city, or else must, in the very act of uniting 
herself with an alien people, have asserted autonomy. From 
the date of the (rvroiKia/jLog, if no earlier, Rome was, it is clear, 
a self-governing community. No power exercised control 
over her. She stood aloof from the Latin league, on terms 
which Avere at first rather hostile than friendly. Her posi- 
tion was unique among the states and cities of the period. 
The amalgamation of two bloods, two civilizations, two kin- 
dred, but still somewhat different, religious systems, pro- 
duced a peculiar people — a peoj^le stronger than its neigh- 
bors, possessing wider views and sympathies, and more va- 
ried tastes — a people better calculated than its neighbors to 
form a nucleus round which the various tribes of the Italic 
stock might gather themselves. 

9. While the history of individuals at this remote period 
is wholly wanting — for such names as Romulus, Remus, Ce- 
Earliest his- ler, Titus Tatius, and the like, can not be regard- 
ttona^i^no?^^" ^^ ^^ having any thing more of historic substance 
personal. ^haii their parallels, Hellen, Dorus, Ion, Amyclas, 
Hoples, etc., the heroes eponymi of Greek legend — it is not 
impossible to trace out the early character of the govern- 
ment, the chief features of the constitution, the principal di- 
visions and subdivisions of classes within the community, 
and the rights and privileges attaching to each. Tradition 
is a trustworthy guide for certain main features; analogy 
and analysis may be allowed to furnish others ; for the laws 
of the growth of states are sufficiently well known and suf- 
ficiently uniform to make it possible in most cases, where we 
have before us a full-grown constitution, to trace it back to 
its foundations, and gather a fair knowledge of its history 
from the form and character of its several parts. 



PART I., PER. I.] EEGAL PERIOD. 379 

10. The known j^oints of the early constitution are the 
following: — («) The form of government was monarchical. 
Chief points ^ ^^^^^^» called " rex," i. e., " ruler," or " director," 
of the early stood at the head of the state, exercisins: a screat, 

constitution 

though not an absolute, power over the citizens. 
(b) The monarchy w^as not hereditary, but elective. When 
the king died, there was an "interregnum." The direction 
of affairs was taken by the Senate or Council, whose ten 
The king, the ^hicf men ("Decem Primi") exercised the royal 
Patres.audthe authority, each in his turn, for five days. It be- 
longed to the Senate to elect, and to the j^eople 
to confirm the king, (c) Under the king was, first of all, an 
hereditary nobility ("patricii"), members of certain noble 
families, not deriving their nobility from the king, but pos- 
sessing it by immemorial descent. These noble families or 
" houses " (" gentes ") were, prior to the avvoLKLafioQ^ one hun- 
dred in number; after the gvvolkl(t^6q^ two hundred. Each 
was represented by its chief in the council of the king (" se- 
natus ") ; and thus the senators were originally one hundred, 
afterwards two hundred. All the members of a "house" 
had one name (" nomen gentilitium") ; all might participate 
in certain sacred rites (" sacra gentilitia ") ; and all had cer- 
tain rights of property in common, {d) All the males of full 
age belonging to the nobility possessed the right of attend- 
ing the public Assembly ("comitia"), where they voted in 
ten bodies ("curiae"), each composed of the members often 
" houses." Each curia had its chief, called " curio ;" and the 
Assembly was presided over by the chief of the ten curiones, 
who w^as called " Curio Maximus." (e) Every change of law 
required the consent of both the Senate and the Assembly. 
The Senate had the right of discussing and voting, but the 
Assembly had the right of voting only. The Assembly w^as 
also privileged to determine on peace or war ; and if one of 
its members appealed to it from the sentence of the king, or 
of a judge, it determined the appeal and condemned or ac- 
quitted at its pleasure. (/) In addition to the members of 
the " gentes," the early Roman state contained two other 
classes. These were the Clients and the Slaves. The Slaves 
resembled persons of their class in other communities ; but 
the Clients were a peculiar institution. They were depend- 
ents upon the noble "houses," and personally free, but pos- 



380 KOME. [hook v. 

sessed of no politic.il privileges, and usually either cultiva- 
ted the lands of their " patrons," or carried on a trade under 
their protection. They resembled to a considerable extent 
the " retainers " of the Middle Ages. 

11. Under this constitution, Rome flourished for a period 
which is somewhat vague and indefinite, without the occur- 
^. . . .^^ rence of any important chan^je. Accordino: to 

Division of the t • -, ■, ^ • 

monarchy be- one tradition, a double monarchy was tried lor a 
in and Sabine sliort time, ill order that the two elements of the 
Komans. state — the Roman and the Sabine (or the Ramnes 
and the Titles) — might each furnish a ruler from their own 
body. But the experiment was not tried for very long. In 
lieu of it, we may suspect that for a while the principle of 
alternation was employed, the Romans and the Sabines each 
in their turn furnishing a king to the community. 

This seems to be implied in the ordinary narrative, which gives, as the first 
four kings — 1. Romukis (Latin from Alba) ; 2. Numa (Sabine) ; 3. TuUus 
(Latin from Mednllia) ; and 4. Ancus (Sabine — grandson of Numa). 

12. The duplication of the community, which was thus per- 
ceptible through all ranks, aflected also to a considerable ex- 
Traces of the tent the national religion. Not only was there a 
ties in*the"re-" duplication of the chief religious officers in con- 
ligion. sequence of the syiioecisnms, but sometimes the 
duplication extended to the objects of worship, the deities 
themselves. Quirinus, for instance, seems to have been the 
Sabine Mars, worshipped, like the Latin Mars, by his own 
" Flamen " and college of " Salii." Juno was perhaps the 
Sabine equivalent of the Latin Diana, another form of the 
same name, but in the popular belief a difierent goddess. Li 
the ranks of the hierarchy the duj^lication was more marked. 
It can be traced in the college of the Pontifices, in that of 
the Augurs, in that of the Vestal Virgins, in the priesthoods 
of Mars, and (probably) in the priesthood of Hercules. 

Character of the Roman Religion, (a) Less imaginative and more 
matter-of-fact than the Greek. Qi) Consisted mainly in the recognition of 
certain obligations (religiones) ; viz., (i.) the obligation to worship each of the 
state gods with sacrifices of a stated kind at stated times, and to keep certain 
festivals ; (ii.) the obhgation on the part of the paterfamilias to make daily 
offerings to the "Lares" of his o^v^l household; (iii.) the obligation to per- 
form vows and to make occasional thank-off'erings ; (iv.) the obhgation to 
abstain from business on "dies nefasti." (c) Though mainly of home 
growth, contained a certain number of foreign elements, derived chiefly from 



I'AKT I., VEIL I.] REGAL PERIOD. 381 

contact with the Greeks. Tlie most important of these was belief in the val- 
ue of orucles, shown in the practice of consulting the Sibylline books. 

13. The names which tradition assigned to the early Ro- 
man monarchs seem to be fictitious. Romulus, Titus Tatius, 
ReipofTui- and Numa Pomj^ilius are personifications rather 
PersoSMs- than personages. We first touch on personal his- 
tory begins, tory in the Roman records when we come to the 
name of Tullus Hostilius, the fourth, or, omitting Tatius, the 
third traditional king. There is every reason to believe that 
this monarch actually lived and reigned ; his name was the 
first that was handed down to posterity, owing to the fact 
that he was the first king who efiected an important con- 
quest, and raised Rome from a humble j^osition to one of 
dignity and eminence. It is the great glory of Tullus that 
he conquered Alba Longa, the chief of the Latin cities, the 
mother-city of Rome itself. His conquest probably doubled, 
or even tripled, the Roman territory ; it prepared the way 
for that hegemony of Rome over all Latium to which she 
owed her subsequent greatness ; and it largely increased the 
population of Rome, and the military strength of the nation. 
For Tullus was not content with a simj)le conquest. Fol- 
lowing up the principle of synoecismus, which had already 
been found to answer, he destroyed Alba, except its temples, 
and transferred the inhabitants to his own capital. He thus 
greatly strengthened the Latin element in the Roman state, 
and made the Sabines a mere modifying influence in a com- 
munity essentially Latin. 

Internal changes consequent on the destruction of Alba. The Alban 
nobles (Luceres?) being added to the Patrician body on the plan already 
adopted upon the junction of the primitive Romans, or Ramnes, with the Sa- 
bines (Titles), the tribes became three, the curice thirty, and the "houses" 
three hundred. The Senate, however, continued at its former number of 
two hundred, the privilege of sending their representatives into it not being at 
first conceded to the Alban houses. No change w\as made in the chief sacred 
offices — those of the Flamens, Pontifices, and Augurs — but as the home of the 
Alban race was now transferred to Rome, the college of Vestal Virgins was 
increased from four to six. 

14. The next Roman king whose name has descended to 
us is Ancus Martins, who is said to have belonged to the Sa- 
ReijrnofAn- bines or Titles. This monarch appears to have 
Rise^nhT* ^een regarded by the later Romans as the found- 
"Piebs." QY of the Plebeian order. He pursued the policy 



382 KOME. [book v. 

of Tullus both in making war on neighboring Latin towns, 
and in using his victories for the aggrandizement of his capi- 
tal by transferring to Rome the populations of the conquered 
states. A portion of the new settlers undoubtedly became 
Clients ; but the richer and more independent would decline 
to take up this relationship, and would be content with the 
protection of the king. Hence would come a sudden aug- 
mentation of that free commonalty, which must always grow 
up — out of various elements — in all states which commence, 
like Rome, with a privileged class of nobles, and a wholly 
unprivileged class of retainers or dependents. 

Elements of a " Plebs " or Commonalty, (a) Free settlers ; either 
pclitical refugees, mercenary soldiers, or traders. The first-named would be 
numerous in a time of so much disturbance as that in which Rome grew up. 
(h) Forced settlers. To this class would belong the whole of the conquered 
} opulations, except such as were either formally admitted into the Patrician 
Lody, or Toluntarily attached themselves as retainers to a noble house, (c) 
Clients, whose "family," or, at any rate, whose "gens," died out and became 
extinct, (o?) The issue of marriages of inequality, i. e., of all cases in which 
a Patrician took to wife a person of a class which did not possess the right of 
intermarriage with the noble houses ("jus connubii"). This last element 
would be small but very important. 

15. The time at which it becomes necessary, or expedient, 
in such a community as the Roman, to recognize the exist- 
The "Plebs" ^"^® ^^ *^^^ commoualty in a formal way, by the 
recognized by grant of political or municipal rights, varies with 
assigns it the circumstauccs within very wide limits. At Rome 
veutine. ^j^^ recognition took place early, matters coming 
rapidly to a head in consequence of the quick growth of the 
territory, and especially of the practice, which the kings pur- 
sued, of removing large masses of the conquered populations 
to their capital. If, as we are told, Ancus gave up the entire 
Aventine Hill, previously uninhabited, to his new settlers, 
thus assigning to their exclusive occupation a distinct quar- 
ter of the capital, municipal institutions must have been at 
the same time granted, for a whole quarter of a town can not 
be surrendered to anarchy. The " Plebs " must at once have 
had " sediles," if not " tribunes ;" and a machinery must have 
been established for their election, since nomination by the 
monarch is not to be thought of But of the details of An- 
cus's regulations, whatever they were, we have no knowl- 



PART I., PER. I.J REGAL PERIOD. 3^3 

edge, the later arrangements of Servius having not only su- 
perseded but obliterated them. 

16. Among the other acts assigned to Ancus Martius, the 
most important are, the extension of the Roman territory to 
other^acts of the sea, and the establishment of the port of Os- 

^^'''- tia; the construction of salt-pans (salmce) in its 

neighborhood; the erection of the "pons sublicius," or 

bridge of piles," across the Tiber, and the occupation of the 
Janiculan Hill by a strong fort, or tete die pont; the drain- 
ing of some of the low land about the Seven Hills by the 

Fossa Quiritium," and the construction of the first prison 
It would seem that civilization was advancing with both its 
advantages and its drawbacks— trade, manufactures, and en- 
gineering skill on the one hand; on the other, crime and its 
repression.- 

The curious notion of a modem historian, that Rome was from the first 
differentiated from the rest of the Latin nation by a pecuHarly commercial 
■ character, is remarkably at variance with the tradition, that she obtained her 
tirst access to the sea in the reign of Ancus. 

17. The next known king of Rome is L. Tarquinius Pris- 
cus. According to the tradition, he was a refugee from the 
Reign of Tar- Etruscan town of Tarquinii; according to the ev- 
?u?'His^?on- ^^^"^e furnished by his name and by his acts, he 
smut^iouai was a Latin, probably belonging to one of the no- 

^ ble " houses " from Alba. Two important consti- 

tutional changes are attributed to him. {a) He raised the 
ideal number of the Senate from two hundred to three hun- 
dred, by adding to it the representatives of the " Gentes Mi- 
nore^s," or "Younger Houses"— who can scarcely be differ- 
ent from the " houses " adopted into the Patrician body f,-om 
among the nobles of Alba. If he were himself a member of 
one of these " houses," his act would, it is clear, have been 
thoroughly natural, {b) He « doubled the equestrian centu- 
ries, or, m other words, the actual number of the Patrician 
^ houses." The " houses " had, apparently, so dwindled, that 
mstead of the ideal number of three hundred, the actual 
number was but one hundred and fifty, or thereabouts. Tar- 
qum proposed to add one hundred and fifty new "houses" 
from among the nobles who had settled at Rome after the 
addition of the Albans; these he proposed to add in three 
new tribes, which were to stand side by side with the three 



384 ROME. [r.ooK v. 

old tribes of the Ramnes, Titles, and Luceres. Opposed by 
the Patricians, who put forward the augur, Attus Navlus, as 
objector, he yielded so far as to create no new tribes ; but 
still he added the new " houses " in three new half-tribes, at- 
taching them to the old Ramnes, Titles, and Luceres, but on 
terms of slight inferiority. 

According to Cicero, the distinction of "Gentes Majores" and "Gentes 
Minores " applied to the "houses" anterior to, and the "houses" consti- 
tuted by Tarquinius Priscus ; but Livy and Dionysius regard the distinction 
as established earlier. 

18. The wars of Tarquinius Priscus were also of impor- 
tance. He repulsed a fierce attack of the Sabines, who had 

crossed the Anio and threatened Rome itself. 

He then attacked the Latin towns on the Upper 
Tiber and in the angle between the Tiber and the Anio, and 
reduced all of them except ^N'omentum. Antemnss, Crustu- 
merium, Ficulea or Ficulnea, Medullia, Csenina, Corniculum, 
and Cameria were among his conquests. After this, towards 
the close of his reign, he engaged in a war, on the other side 
of the Tiber, with the Etruscans, and gained important suc- 
cesses. 

19. Tarquinius Priscus was distinguished among the kings 
of Rome for the number and the character of his great works. 
His great To him is ascribed by the best authorities the 
works. Cloaca Maxima, the most remarkable monument 
now existing of the regal period, a construction of the grand- 
est and most massive description. Connected with the Clo- 
aca, and undoubtedly the work of the same builder, was a 
strong and solid quay along the left bank of the Tiber, which 
checked the natural inclination of the river to flow off on 
that side and to inundate the low lands about the Palatine 
and Capitoline Hills. Tarquin further constructed for the 
entertainment of the people a " Circus," or race-course, known 
as the " Circus Maximus ;" and he also designed and com- 
menced the great Temple of Jove, on the Capitoline Hill, 
which was completed by the last monarch. 

Is there any reason for regarding these massive works as "Etruscan" in 
character? "Was not the early architecture of the Latins just as massive as 
that of their neighbors across the Tiber, and indeed veiy similar to it in all 
respects? The remains at Pr£eneste, Tibur, Tarracina, and other Latin 
towns are as massive as any in Etruria. 



1 ART I., PER. 1.] REGAL PERIOD. 385 

20. Tarquinius Priscus appears to have been succeeded iir 
the kmgdom by Servms TuUius. According to the account 
KeignofSer- which has most Verisimilitude, Servius was an 
His^ Etruscan Etruscan, one of a body of mercenaries whom 
w^^- - Tarquin had employed and had settled in his cap- 

ital. He took advantage of his position about the monarch's 
person to conceal his death for a time, and act in his name ; 
after which he boldly threw off the mask, and openly usurped 
the throne. Having gained considerable successes against 
the Etruscans, he felt himself strong enough to devise and 
carry through a complete change of the constitution. Hith- 
erto, the whole political power, except that wielded by the 
king, had been engrossed by the noble "Houses." Servius 
determined to admit all ranks of freemen to the franchise. 
His arrange- Taking the existing arrangements of the army as 
"ComUiacen- ^ groundwork, he constructed a new Assembly 
turiata." (" comitia centuriata"), in which all free Romans 

found a place. Dividing the citizens into " classes " accord- 
ing to the amount of their property, he then subdivided the 
" classes " into a larger or smaller number of " centuries " ac- 
cording to the aggregate of the property possessed by the 
" class ;" and to each century, whatever the number of the 
persons composing it, he gave a single vote. The result was 
that a decidedly preponderating power was given to the 
richer classes; but if they differed among themselves, the 
poorer classes came in and decided the point in disj^ute. 

Details of the Comitia Centuriata. With regard to the main points, 
the three great authorities, Cicero, Livy, and Dionysius, are agreed ; but with 
i-espect to minor points there is a good deal of discrepancy. Main Points : 
(a) The first place in the Assembly was given to the equites (horsemen), who 
formed eighteen centuries, six of which (sex suffragia, sex centurice) were ex- 
clusively Patrician, while the remaining twelve were mixed, being composed 
indifferently of Patricians, Plebeians, and (perhaps) Clients. A property 
qualification, amount unknown, separated off this class from the rest. (6) 
The bulk of the citizens below the "equites" were divided into five "class- 
es," according as their property amounted to 100,000, 75,000, 50,000, 
25,000, and 12,500 (Dionys.), or 11,000 (Livy) asses. The first class fur- 
nished 80 centuries, the second, third, and fourth 20 each, and the fifth 30. 
The number of individuals in the century rose as the property qualification 
sank. If (as is thought probable) a century of the first class contained 75 
men, then one of the second contained 100, of the third 150, of the fourth 
300, of the fifth 600. (c) There were a certain small number of centuries of 
professionals — artillerymen, and musicians — to which, no property qualifica- 

17 



386 ROME. [book v. 

tion attached, {d) The remainder of the free population, below the *' class- 
es, "formed also a certain small number of centuries, not more at any rate 
than four, in the lowest of which were included even those who had nothing, 
(e) Finallj, whatever the exact details, the arrangement was vuidoubtedly 
such, that, if the "equites" and the centuries of the first class were unani- 
mous, the matter was determined ; a majority was obtained, and, in that 
case, the votes of the remaining centuries were not taken. 

21. Another important institution ascribed by good au- 
thority to the reign of Servius is that of the local tribes. 
„. . . ,. Hitherto the only "tribes" in Rome had been 

HlSmstltatlOn , /.it~.-« ■^ tx-. m-- 

of the local those 01 the Jratrician order — the Kamnes, iities, 
and Luceres — which were hereditary, and had no 
connection with localities. Servius divided the city into 
four, and the territory jDrobably into twenty-six districts, 
and formed the land-owners within every such district into 
a tribe. Each tribe had the right of meeting and appoint- 
ing its own "tribunus," its " oedilis," and probably its "ju- 
dex " or " judices." It is doubtful whether the whole body 
of the tribes had at first the right of meeting together in 
one place; but ultimately the right was asserted and exer- 
cised, the meeting-place for the whole body being the forum 
at Rome. Here were held the "comitia tributa," which 
were not, perhaps, exclusively Plebeian, but which came to 
be so regarded from the great prej^onderance of the Ple- 
beians in the class of land-owners. The original object of 
Servius in creating this organization was perhaps, as much 
as any thing, the assessment and collection of the property- 
tax (tiHbiitum), which the tribunes had to levy, collect, and 
pay into the treasury. He may also, however, have aimed 
at contenting the mass of the Plebeians, by intrusting them 
to a considerable extent with the power of self-government. 

Tlie four city tribes were called the Palatine, the Collin e, the Esquiline, 
and the Suburran. Of the original country tribes the names of fifteen only 
are knoAvn. They are the -3imilian, the Camilian, the Cluentian, the Corne- 
lian, the Fabian, the Galerian, the Horatian, the Lemonian, the Menenian, 
the Papirian, the Papinian, the Eomilian, the Sergian, the Veturian, and the 
Voltinian. There is an evident connection between these names and those 
of the Patrician "houses." 

22. Servius is also said to have made an allotment of land 
His allotment out of the public domain to needy Plebeians — an 
of lands. ^^^ which greatly exasperated the Patricians, who 



PART I., PER. I.J KEGAL PERIOD. 337 

liad hitherto enjoyed all the advantage to be derived from 
such land by means of their right of occupation {2^ossessio). 
The land allotted aj^pears to have lain on the right bank of 
the Tiber, consisting of tracts which had been ceded by the 
Etruscans after their defeat. (See § 20.) 

23. According to some authors, it was likewise this king 
who raised Rome externally into a new and most important 
His league position, getting her to be acknowledged as act- 
with till Lat- ual head of the entire Latin confederacy, or at 

any rate of all but few recalcitrant towns, such as 
Gabii. This position was undoubtedly held by Rome at the 
close of the monarchy ; and it may have been first assumed 
in the reign of Servius. The position was not exactly that 
which had been occupied by Alba. Alba had been one of 
the thirty cities, exercising a presidency over her sister 
states, which gave her a suj^eriority of rank and dignity, 
but no real control over the federation. Rome was never 
one of the Latin cities. Her position was that of a " sepa- 
rate state, confronting the league," equal to it, or even supe- 
rior to it in power, and when accepted as a close ally, neces- 
sarily exercising a protectorate. By the terms of the treaty, 
equality between Rome and Latium was jealously insisted 
upon ; but, practically, Rome was paramount, and directed 
the i3olicy of the league at her pleasure. 

24. An extension of the city of Rome accompanied this 
advance in her territorial influence and in her dignity. Tlie 
His extension Original " Roma quadrata" was confined to a sin- 
tiouSftife^^' gle liill) the Palatine, of Avhich perhaps it occu- 
c^ty- pied only the north-western half From this cen- 
tre the town spread to the neighboring heights, the Esquiline 
on the north-east, and the Coelian on the south-east, whereon 
suburbs grew up, perched upon eminences, which together 
with the Palatine were seven in number, and constituted 
the primitive " Septimontium." The Rome which had these 
limits was confronted by a separate settlement, probably 
Sabine, on the hills (" colles ") directly to the north, the 
Capitoline, Quirinal, and Viminal. But aftei* a while the 
two communities coalesced ; and the Rome of Tullus prob- 
ably included the houses both of the "Montani" and the 
"CoUini," or those of the "Mount-men" and the "Hill-men." 
Ancus added a settlement on the Aventine, so completing 



388 ROME. [book v. 

the later " Septimontium." It remained, however, for Ser- 
vius to inclose the various eminences, and a considerable 
space between and beyond them, within a single continuous 
line of wall. It is significative of the greatness of the Ro- 
man state at this time, that the " walls of Servius " sufficed 
for the city down to the time of Aurelian. 

Many excellent works have been Avritten on the topography of Rome, espe- 
cially in recent times. The best are — 

Gell, Sir W., Topography of Rojne and its Vicinity. London, 1846. 
2d edition. 

BuNSEN, Baron, Beschreibung der Stadt Rom. Stuttgart, 1829-49 ; 3 
vols. 8vo. With Atlas. 

Becker, W. A., Handbuch der Romischen Alterthiimer. Leipzig, 1843- 
64 ; 3 vols. 8vo. 

Canini, L., Indicazione topografica di Roma antica. Roma, 1850. 4th 
edition, 8vo. And the same -writer's Edijizj di Roma antica. Roma, 
1840; 4 vols, folio. 

Dyer, T., The History of the City of Rome. (See p. 373.) 

25. It is said that Servius, towards the close of a long 
reign, began to fear for the stability of his institutions, and 
, . . ^. planned measures which would, he hoped, secure 

His mteution ^, . , tt • t t it -i 

to abdicate, their continuaiice. He intended to abdicate, be- 
fore doing so presiding at the election of two 
magistrates by the free votes of the people assembled in 
their centuries (comitia centiiriata)^ who should be under- 
stood to be appointed to their office, not for life, but only 
for a single year. It should be their business, before the 
end of the year, to hold an assembly for the election of their 
successors; and thus the state would have passed, Avithout 
violence or revolution, under the government of popular an- 
nual magistrates. The office of chief magistrate Avas, it is 
probable, to be open to both orders. But the members of 
the " houses," disgusted at this prospect, frustrated the mon- 
arch's plans by anticipating them. Before Servius could 
effect the changes which he had designed, they broke out in 
open revolt, murdered the aged monarch in the Senate- 
house, and placed a Tarquin, the son of the former king of 
the same name, on the throne. 

26. L. Tarquinius Superbus, the last king of Rome, having 
gained his crowm by the sole favor of the Patricians, acted 
no doubt in some respects oppressively towards the other 
order. He set aside at once the whole constitution of Ser- 



PART I., PER. I.] IIEGAL PERIOD. 389 

ReiguofTar- vius, and restored that which had existed under 
pej£ ^His t^^ earlier kings. But it may be questioned wheth- 
treatmei^ of ^r his Oppression of the commonalty ever pro- 

the common- i -i i • o • 

aity. ceeded farther than this, bome Avriters represent 

him as grinding down the people by task-work of a grievous 
and distasteful kind, and then, when they murmured, banish- 
ing them from Kome to distant colonies. But the works 
which seem to be rightfully assigned to the second Tarquin 
are not of such a character as to imply servile or grinding 
labor. Their object was most probably the contentation of 
the poorer classes, who obtained by means of them constant 
employment at good wages. And the planting of colonies 
was always a popular measure, involving, as it did of neces- 
sity, an allotment of fresh lands to needy persons. Again, 
the "cloacae" of Superbus,and his construction of permanent 
stone seats in the Circus Maximus, were for the advantage 
of the lower classes of the citizens. 

27. The real "tyranny" of Superbus was over the Patri- 
cians. It can not have commenced very early in his reign. 
His tyranny When, liowcvcr, he felt himself securely settled 
tSaus^ anci ^^poi^ the throuc, when he had made himself fairly 
his expulsion, popular with the bulk of the community, when, 
by the vigor of his external administration, he had acquired 
a reputation, and perhaps an amount of military strength 
which made him careless of offending the " houses," he ceased 
to respect the rights of the privileged class, and, dispensing 
w^th their assistance in the government, took the complete 
direction of affairs into his own hands. Perhaps this was 
not much more than earlier monarchs had done, when they 
felt themselves fairly established. But the spirit of the no- 
bles was higher than it had formerly been. They had re- 
cently slain one king and set up another. They viewed 
Tarquin as their creature, and were indignant that he should 
turn against them. Still, had the tyranny of the monarch 
been merely political ; had their persons and the honor of 
their families remained secure, it is quite possible that no 
outbreak would have occurred. But Tarquin, suspicious of 
their intentions, commenced a series of prosecutions. He 
had charges brought against the most powerful Patricians, 
and took cognizance of them himself. Disallowing the right 
of appeal, he punished numbers by death or exile. Finally, 



390 KOME. [book v. 

the outrage upon a noble Patrician matron woke the smoul- 
dering discontent into a flame. Rebellion broke out ; and, 
the monarch having sought safety in flight, the Patriaian or- 
der, with the tacit acquiescence of the Plebeians, revolution- 
ized the government. 

The vigor of Tarquin's administration to the last is indicated by the 
"Treaty with Carthage," which he must have been negotiating at the time 
of his dethronement. The story of his deahngs with Turnus Herdonius 
seems to indicate that he held a position of more authority with respect to 
the Latin league than had been occupied by Servius. And the terms used 
with respect to the Latins in the treaty above mentioned confirm this view. 
The conquest of Gabii in his reigii is probably a fact, though the circum- 
stances of the conquest may be fictitious. 

The great works of Tarquin were the Capitoline Temple, the branch cloacae 
which drained into tlie Cloaca Maxima, the seats in the Circus Maximus, 
and perhaps the Cyclopian wall still existing at Signia. 

28. The chronology of the kingly period at Rome is ex- 
tremely nncertain. Traditionally the period was reckoned 
at either 240 or 244 years. To Romulus were as- 
of the regal signed 37 years ; to Numa, 39 (or 43) ; to Tullus, 
period. g2; to Ancus, 24; to Tarquin 1,38; to Servius, 

44 ; to Tarquin II., 25 ; and an "interregnum" of a year was 
counted between Romulus and Numa. It has been pointed 
out that the average duration of the reigns (35 years nearly) 
is improbably long ; and that the numbers bear in many 
points the appearance of artificial manipulation. On the 
earlier numbers in the list, and therefore upon the total, no 
dependence at all can be placed; for neither Romulus nor 
ISTuma can be regarded as real personages. There is reason 
to believe that the " regifugium " took place in or about 
tlie year ij.c. 508. Perhaps we may accept the traditions 
with respect to the later kings so far as to believe that the 
reigns of the last three monarchs covered the space of about 
a century, and those of the two preceding them the space of 
about half a century. The time that the monarchy had last- 
ed before Tullus was probably unknown to the Romans at 
the period when history first began to be written. 

See on this subject the work of Algarotti, Saggio sopra la durata de' 
regni de' re di Roma, in his Ojmre (Venezia, 1791-4; 17 vols. 8vo) ; and 
compare Niebuhr, Roman Hisiorv^ vol. i. pp. 238-257, and Leavis, Credi- 
bility of the Earhj Roman ilistorij^ vol. i. pp. 411-546. 



TART I., PER. ii.j KEGAL PERIOD. 39I 



SECOND PERIOD- 

From the Foundation of the Republic to the Commencement of the Samnite 
Wars^ B.C. 508 to 340, 

Sources. The most copious authorities are, as before, Livy (books ii.- 
vii.), and Dionysius (books v.-xi. and fragments of books xii.-xx.); to 
which may be added Plutarch, in his lives of Poplicola, Coriolanus, and Ca- 
millus; Diodorus Siculus (books xi.-xvi.) ; and the fragments of Appian, 
iind Dio Cassius. Occasional notices of the period, mostly of great value, 
are also found in Polybius. For the chronology, tlie best authority is the 
important monument dug up on the site of the Forum, and generally knoNvn 
as the Fasti Capitolini (see p. 20), which, so far as it goes, is invaluable. 

The period is scantily treated in the histoiy of Mommsen, copiously in 
those of NiEBUHR, Arnold, and Peter. Mommsen, however, has publish- 
ed an important work on the chronology, entitled Die Romische Chronologic 
bis aif Ccesar. 2(1 edition, Berlin, 1859 ; 8vo. 

1. The interest of the Roman history during the whole 
of this period belongs mainly to the internal aifairs of the 
Wars of this Republic, the struggle between the orders, the 
period uuim- growth of the Constitution and of the laws ; sec- 
^ ^^^' ondarily only, and by comparison, slightly, to the 
external affairs, wars,' treaties, alliances, and conquests. With 
the three exceptions of the first Latin War, the Yeientine 
contest, and the great attack of Gauls, the wai-s are unevent- 
ful and unimportant. The progress made is slight. It may 
be questioned whether at the close of the period Terminus 
has advanced in any direction beyond the point which it had 
reached under the kings. The relations of Rome to Latium 
are certainly less close and less to the advantage of Rome at 
the close of the period than at its commencement ; and thus 
far, the power of the Roman state is diminished rather than 
augmented. 

2. The internal changes during the period are, on the con- 
trary, of- the highest interest and importance. They in- 
High interest clude the establishment of the Plebeian Tribu- 
histori!'^^™''^ nate, the Decemviral constitution and legislation, 

the institution of the Censorship, the experiments 
of the First and Second Military Tribunates, the re-establish- 
ment of the Consulship with the proviso that one consul 
should be a Plebeian, the infringement of the proviso, and 
the whole series 'of the early agrarian enactments and dis- 
turbances. There is no portion of the constitutional history 



392 ROME. [book v. 

of any ancient state which has a deeper interest than this — ■ 
none from which lessons of greater value can be learnt. A 
certain amount of obscurity rests, indeed, upon many points, 
on which we should be glad to have clearer and more certain 
knowledge ; but, despite this drawback, the history is in the 
highest degree instructive, and will well reward the study of 
all those who love both order and freedom. 

3. The constitution established on the expulsion of Tar- 
quin was, in part, the actualization of the ideal of Servius, in 
constitntiou P^^'^ ^^^ enlargement of that ideal, conceived in 
of jj.o. 508. Its the same spirit. Servius had desio-ned to intrust 

fairness to- r» i i • 

AvardsthePie- the government oi the state to two annual magis- 
^^'^"^* trates elected by the free voice of the centuries, 

and had made the centuries, in which all freemen were en- 
rolled, the recognized Assembly of the Roman people. He 
had given the non-burghers generally the rights of municipal 
self-government ; of the election of their own " tribunes," 
" fediles," and "judges;" and of the assessment and collec- 
tion of their own taxes. But this, so far as appears, was al-I. 
The leaders of the revolution of b.c. 508 went farther. They 
restored the constitution of Servius, aiid they added to it. 
Two " praetors," or " consuls," were elected by the free voice 
of the centuries, according to a form of j^roceedings which 
Servius had left behind him in writing ; and one of the first 
pair of consuls was a non-burgher or Plebeian. The Senate, 
which had dwindled under the later kings, partly from natu- 
ral causes, partly by the deliberate policy of the tyrant, was 
completed to its ideal number of 300, by the addition of 164 
life-members ("conscri]3ti "), chosen from the richest of the 
"equites," of whom a considerable number were Plebeians. 
The right of appeal, suspended under the last king, was re- 
vived, and was so enlarged as to include all freemen. Thus, 
at the outset, the new constitution wore the appearance, at 
any rate, of equality. No, sharp line of demarkation was 
drawn between the two orders in respect of personal free- 
dom, or admissibility to political privilege ; and it is not too 
much to say that, if the spirit which animated the Patrician 
body in b.c. 508 had continued to prevail, contentions and 
struggles between the two orders would never have arisen. 

4. But this fair prospect w^as soon clouded over. The Pa- 
tricians had been induced to make the concessions above 



PART I., I'lai. II.] PKESSUKE OF DEBT. 393 

commeuce- enumerated to the other Order, not from any 
cianoppres-"' sense of justice, but through fear of Tarquin and 
sion. }^ig partisans, who were laboring to bring about a 

restoration. Of this there was for a time considerable dan- 
ger. There was a royalist party among the Patricians them- 
selves ; and both the Etruscans and the Latins were inclined 
to espouse the quarrel of the deposed king. When, how- 
ever, this peril was past, when the chiefs of the royalist fac- 
tion were banished or executed, when the Etruscans had met 
a resistance which they had not counted on, and the Latins 
had sustained the complete defeat of the Lake Regillus, the 
policy of the Patricians changed. No Plebeian was allowed 
to enjoy the consulship after Brutus, and by degrees it grew 
to be forgotten that any but Patricians had ever been re-- 
garded as eligible. No plan was adopted by which Plebe- 
ians could obtain regular entrance into the Senate; and, as 
their life-members died off, the council of the nation was once 
more closed to them. The whole power of the government 
was engrossed by the Patrician order; which, finding itself 
free from any check, naturally became overbearing and op- 
pressive. 

The imminent clanger of a restoration at one time is indicated by the sto- 
ry, which Livy tells, of the origin of the Dictatorship. Such an oiRce was 

evidently no pa^'t of the original idea of the constitution ; but 
6hip.^^^^^^°^' ^^'^^ exactly what might naturally have been devised to meet 

an emergency. If the circumstances were such as Livy men- 
tions, the first Dictator must have been named by the Senate. In after-times 
it is certain that the Senate claimed the right of nomination, though practi- 
cally they were generally satisfied to select the consul who should nominate. 

5. The loss of political privilege would not, it is probable, 
by itself, have called forth any active movement on the part 
o erationof ^^ ^^^^ commonalty. It required the stimulus of 
the law of personal suffering to stir up the law-loving Ro- 
man to offer any resistance to constituted author- 
ity. This stimulus was found in the harsh enforcement, not 
long after the commencement of the Republic, of the law of 
debtor and creditor — a law which, under the circumstances 
of the time, pressed heavily on vast numbers of the commu- 
nity, and threatened to deprive them of their j^ersonal free- 
dom, if not even of their lives. 

Nature of the Roman Law of Debt. Distinction between debts arising 

17* 



p»94 ROME. [book v. 

from money lent and ordinary debts ; in the former case, both the property 
and the person answerable ; in the latter, the property only. Process of at- 
taching the person troublesome and tedious. Rights of creditor, when the 
process was complete, extreme ; including certainly the right to use, or sell, 
the debtor as a slave, and probably the right to put him to death. At any 
rate, several creditors, by proceeding at once^ obtained the right to put to 
death. Nature of tha nexus, doubtful ; but no reasonable doubt that the 
practice grew up of persons, when they borrowed money, contracting to work 
out their debt by the performance of tasks set them by their creditors. Thus, 
practically, there were four classes of debtors : — (1) Persons who had bor- 
rowed under no special contract, and were still at liberty, proceedings not 
having been commenced against them ; (2) persons who had borrowed under 
a contract to work out their debts, who consequently spent the day, like 
slaves, but not as slaves, in the workshops (ergastula) of their masters ; (3) 
persons against whom the law of debt was in course of enforcement, who 
were kept in custody by their creditors, but could not be compelled by them 
to do work of any kind; and (4) persons against whom the law had been 
fully enforced, and "^vho^ having been assigned to their creditors {addicH), 
were their actual slaves. 

6. The operation of the law of debt acquired political im- 
portance chiefly from the large immber of the debtors at 
Causes of the *^^^ period of the history ; and it is therefore nec- 
generaipov- essarv to inquire what were the circumstances 

erty : (1) De- . 

fection of the whicli causcd the wide prevalence of indebtedness 
Conquest of ^t the time — a prevalence which threatened revo- 
FncuSSns o? b^tiou. Now, in the first place, nothing is more 
amioscaus <^l^^i' ^^^^ t^^t the change from the Monarchy 
to the Republic was accompanied by a diminu- 
tion in the power and prestige of Rome, which sank from 
a position of pre-eminence among the central Italian nations 
to one of comparative insignificance. The Latins profited by 
the occasion to reclaim their complete independence ; the 
Etruscans assumed an aggressive attitude, and an Etruscan 
monarch, Lars Porsenna, appears to have actually for a term 
of years held Rome in subjection. This yoke was indeed 
shaken ofl" after a while ; but a permanent result of the sub- 
jection remained in the loss of almost all the territory on 
the right bank of the Tiber. The Romans whose lands lay 
on that side of the river thus lost them ; while at the same 
time the separation between Rome and Latium laid the Ro- 
man territory on the south side of the river open to incur- 
sions. The Sabines and Oscans plundered and ravaged free- 
ly ; the crops were ruined, the farm buildings and imple- 



PAiiT I., PER. II.] THEOFIRST SECESSION. 395 

ments destroyed, the cattle carried off. A general impover- 
ishment was the natural consequence; and this would of 
course be felt most by the poorest classes, and especially by 
those whose small plots of land were their sole means of sus- 
tenance. 

T. The poverty thus produced was further aggravated, 1. 
By the exaction of taxes, which by the Roman system were 
Aggravatious asscsscd upou individuals, not for a single year, 
of the poverty. -^^^^ j-^^. ^ ^qy^^^ ^f fjye years, and had to be paid for 

that term, whether the property on which they were levied 
remained in the possession of the individual or not ; 2. By 
the high* rate of interest, which, under the peculiar circum- 
stances of the time, rose probably from the normal rate of 
10 per cent, {imciariwn Jwnus) to such rates as 30, 40, or per- 
haps even 50 per cent. ; 3. By the non-payment of the rents 
due to the treasury from the 2^ossessore.% the withholding of 
which caused the property-tax {trihutmn) to become a se- 
rious burden ; 4. By the cessation of the system of allot- 
ments {divisio agrorum) instituted by Servius, which was in- 
tended to compensate the Plebeians for their exclusion from 
the right oi possessio. 

8. When the sufferings of the poorer classes had reached 
to a certain height from the cruel enforcement of the laws 
concerning debt, murmurs and indignant outcries 
cession, b.o.' began to be heard. At first, however, the oj^posi- 
^^^' tion of the discontented took a purely legal shape. 

The Roman was a volunteer army, not a conscription; and 
the Plebeians had been wont, at the call of the consuls, 
freely to offer their services. Now they declined to^ive in 
their names unless upon the promise of a redress of griev- 
ances. Promises to this effect were made and broken. The 
Plebeians then, driven to despair, " seceded " — that is to say, 
they withdrew from Rome in a body, and proceeded to pre- 
pare for themselves new abodes across the Anio, intending 
to found a new city separate from the burgesses, Avhere they 
might live under their own sole gover#hient. Such a step 
was no doubt revolutionary ; it implied the complete disrup- 
tion of the state ; but it was revolution of a kind which in- 
volved no bloodshed. The burghers, however, seeing in the 
step taken the ruin of both orders — for Rome divided against 
herself must have speedily succumbed to some one or other 



396 HOME. [book v. 

of her powerful neighbors — felt compelled to yield. The 
Plebs required as the conditions of their return, 1. That 
all debts of persons who could prove themselves msolvent 
should be cancelled; 2. That all persons in the custody of 
their creditors on account of debt should be set at liberty; 
and 3. That certain guardians of the Plebeian order should 
be annually elected by the nation at large, whose persons 
should be sacred, who should be recognized as magistrates 
of the nation, and whose special business should be to defend 
and protect from injury all Plebeians appealing to them. 
These were the famous "Tribuni Plebis," or "Tribunes of 
the Commons," who played so important a part in «the later 
history of the Republic. Their original number is uncer- 
tain ; but it would seem to have been either five or two. 

9. It is evident that the economical portion of this ar- 
rangement very insufficiently met the difficulty of -the exist- 
s-stemofai- ^"S poverty; and there can be little doubt that, 
lotmeuts the besides the formal provisos above mentioned, 

true remedy . ^ . ._,^ , 

against the tiiere was an understandmg that the Plebeian 
poverty. grievances should be redressed by an equitable 

system of allotments. Such a system was advocated short- 
ly afterwards, b.c. 484, by S]3. Cassius, one of the consuls un- 
der whom the Plebs returned from their secession, but was 
violently opposed by the bulk of the Patrician order, and cost 
its advocate his life. Still, from time to time, concessions of 
this kind were made, to keep the Plebeians in good humor ; 
and gradually, as the territory once more grew in size, con- 
siderable portions of it were parcelled out to small proprie- 
tors. • 

In B.C. 468, Ti. Emilias and L. Valerius brought forward an agrarian 
law, which was opposed by Ap. Claudius, and perhaps not passed. In b.c. 
465 the same -^mihus and Q. Fabius were more successful, providing for 
1000 needy Plebeians by their colony to Antium. In b.c. 415, and again in 
B.C. 392, small allotments were made. In b.c. 390, after the fall of Veii, an 
allotment was made of seven jugera to all who wished, in the Veientine ter- 
ritory. Eight years later, b. c. 382, 2000 Plebeians received small allotments 
at Satricum ; and two yiars after this Plebeian colonies were settled at Ne- 
pete (in Etruria) and in the Pontine marsh district. 

10. But a new character was given to the struggle be- 
tween the orders by the tribunate, which enabled the wealth- 
ier Plebeians, whose especial grievance was their exclusion 
from the chief offices in the state, to turn the effiarts of their 



PART I., PER. II.] THE YlliHT DECEMVIRATE. 397 

Struggle for Order to the obtaining of equal political privi- 
commeifces! l^g^s and thus to initiate a contest which lasted 
Lawof Pubiii- fQ^. above a century. The first step taken in ad- 

lus Volero, - . . ^ 

B.C. 470. vance was by the law of Publilius Volero (b.c. 

470), the main importance of which was that it assumed the 
initiative in legislation, hitherto exclusively in the hands 
of the other order. When the attemj)t thus made to legis- 
late in a matter of public im^^ortance succeeded, when, by the 
sanction of the Senate and Patricians, the rogatio Puhlilia 
became law, the contest was virtually decided ; a door was 
opened by means of which an entrance might be effected 
into the very citadel of the constitution ; all that was neces- 
sary was sufficient patience and perseverance, a determina- 
tion in spite of all obstacles to press steadily forward to the 
required end, and to consent permanently to no compromise 
that should seriously interfere with the great principle of 
equal rights. 

11. The Plebeians, victorious in this first struggle, did not 
long rest upon their oars. In b.c. 460 the tribune, C. Teren- 
LawofTereu- tilius Harsa, brought forward a proposition, the 
leads SS ^'eal object of which was a complete change of 
of thefir?tDe- ^^^^ Constitution. He proposed the creation of a 
cemvirs. * board of commissioners, half Patrician, half Ple- 
beian, whose duties should be to codify the existing laws, to 
limit and define the authority of the consuls, and to estab- 
lish a constitution just and equitable to both orders. The 
proposition was opposed with the utmost determination and 
violence. Even at the last, it was not formally carried; 
but, after ten years of the most vehement strife, after Rome, 
through the contentions between the orders, had several 
times been nearly taken by the Volscians, and had once been 
actually occupied by a band of adventurers under a Sabine 
named Appius Herdonius, called in by some of the more vio- 
lent of the Patrician body, the nobles virtually yielded — 
they agreed that that should be done which the law pro- 
posed, but required that it should be done in another way. 
The nation, assembled in its centuries, should freely choose 
the ten commissioners to whom so important a task was to 
be intSiisted, and who would, moreover, constitute a -provis- 
ional government, superseding for the time all other magis- 
trates. The Plebeians consented; and the natural conse- 



398 ROME. [book v. 

quence was that ten Patricians were chosen — Patricians, 
however, mostly of known moderation, who might be ex- 
pected to perform their task prudently and justly. 

12. The First Decemvirs did not disappoint the expecta- 
tions formed of them. In their codification of the laws they 
did little but stereotype the existino^ practice, 

Workaccom- ^ . n ^. / ^ - , -^^ n 

piished by the puttmg, lor the most jDart, mto a written form 
vS Code of what had previously been matter of precedent and 
Laws. usage. In some matters, however, where the law 

was loose and indeterminate, they had to give it definiteness 
and precision by expressing for the first time its provisions 
in Avriting. The code of the Twelve Tables — ^^fons omnis 
piiblici priv at iqiie juris ^'' — which dates from this time, was a 
most valuable digest of the early Roman law, and, even in 
the fragmentary state in which it has come down to us, de- 
serves careful study. 

The fragments of the code have been published by several writers, as by 
Haubold in his Institutionum juris Romani privati Lineamenta, Lipsias, 
1826; and by DiRKSEN in his Uehersicht der hisherigen Versuche zur Kritik 
und Herstellung des Textes der Zwolf- Tafel - Fragmente, Leipzig, 1824. 
The subject has been well treated by Arnold in his Roman History, vol, i., 
chap. xiv. The following are the Tables, as given by Dirksen, the original 
form of the language being only partially preseiTed : 

LAWS OF THE TWELVE TABLES. 

FIRST TABLE. 
SI. IN. IVS. VOCAT. NI. IT. ANTESTATOR. IGITVR. EM. CAPITO. 
SI. CALVITVR. PEDEMVE. STRVIT. MANVM. ENDOIACITO. 
SI. MORBVS. AEVITASVE. VITIVM. ESCIT, QVI. IN. IVS. VOCABIT. IVMENTVM. 

BATO. SI. NOLET. ARCERAM. NE. STERNITO. 
ASSIDVO. VINDEX. ASSIDVVS. ESTO. PROLETARIO. QVOI. QVIS. VOLET. VINDEX. 

ESTO. 
REM. VBI. PAGVNT. ORATO. 
NI. PAGVNT. IN. COMITIO. AVT. IN. FORO. ANTE. MERIDIEM. CAVSAM. CONII- 

CITO. QVOM. PERORANT. AMBO. PRAESENTES. 
POST. MERIDIEM. PRAESENTI. STLITEM. ADDICITO. 
SOL, OCCASVS. SVPREMA. TEMPESTAS. ESTO. 

— VADES, — SVBVADES. 

SECOND TABLE. 
MORBVS, — SONTICVS,— STATVS, DIES. CVM. HOSTE. — QVID. HORVM, FVIT, 

VNVM, IVDICI. ARBITROVE, REO. VE. DIES. DIFFISVS. ESTO, 
CV. TESTIMONIVM. DEFVERIT. IS, TERTIIS. DIEBVS. OB. PORTVM. OBVAGVLA- 

TVM. ITO, 1^ 

THIRD TABLE. 
AERIS. CONFESSI. REBV8QVE. IVRE. IVDICATIS, TRIGINTA. DIES, IVSTI. SVNTO, 
POST, DEINDE. MANVS. INIECTIO. ESTO. IN. IVS, DVCITO, 



PART I., PKR. ii.J LAWS OF THE TWELVE TABLES. 399 

NI. IVDICATVjr. FACIT. AVT. QVIPS. ENDO. EM. IVRE. VINDICIT. SECVM. DV- 
CITO. VINCITO. AVT. NERVO. AVT. COMPEDIBVS. QVINDECIM. PONDO. NE. 
MAIORE. AVT. SI. VOLET. MINORE. VINCITO. 

SI. VOLET. SVO. VIVITO. NI. SVO, VIVIT. QVI. EM. VINCTVai. HABEBIT. LI- 
BRAS. FARRIS. ENDO. DIES. DATO. SI. VOLET. PLVS. DATO. 

TERTIIS. NVNDINIS. PARTIS. SECANTO. SI. PLVS. MINVSVE. SECVERVNT. SE. 
FRAVDE. ESTO. 

ADVERSVS. HOSTEM. AETERNA. AVCTORITAS. 

FOURTH TABLE. 
SI. PATER. FILIVM. TER. VENVM. DVIT. FILIVS. A. PATRE. LIBER. ESTO. 

FIFTH TABLE. 
VTI. LEGASSIT. SVPER. PECVNIA. TVTELAVE. SVAE. REI. ITA. IVS. ESTO. 
SI. INTESTATO. MORITVR. CVI. SVVS. HERES. NEC. SIT. ADGNATVS. PROXIMVS. 

FAillLIAM. HABETO. 
SI. AGNATVS. NEC. ESCIT. GENTILIS. FAailLIAJtf. NANCITOR. 
SI. FVRIOSVS. EST. AGNATORVM, GENTILIVMQUE. IN. EO. PECVNIAQVE. EIVS. 

POTESTAS. ESTO. AST. EI. CVSTOS. NEC. ESCIT. 

EX. EA. FAMILIA IN. EAM. FAMILIAM. 

SIXTH TABLE. 

CVM. NEXVM. FACIET. MANCIPIVMQVE. VTI. LINGVA. NVNCVPASSIT. ITA. IVS. 

ESTO. 
SI. QVI. IN. IVRE. MANVM. CONSERVNT. 

TIGNVM. IVNCTVM. AEDIBVS. VINEAEQVE. ET. CONCAPET. NE. SOLVITO. 
QVANDOQVE. SARPTA. DONEC. DEMPTA. ERVNT. 

SEVENTH TABLE. 

HORTVS. — HEREDIVM. — TVGVRIVM. 

SI. IVRGANT. 

SI. AQVA. PLWIA. NOCET. — 

EIGHTH TABLE. 
SI. MEMBRVM. RVPIT. NI. CVM. EO. PACIT. TALIO. ESTO. 
SI. INIVRIAM. FAXIT. ALTERI. VIGINTI. QVINQVE. AERIS. POENAE. SVNTO. 

RVPITIAS. — SARCI-TO. 

— QVI. FRVGES. EXCANTASSIT. — NEVE. ALIENAM. SEGETEM. PELLEXERIS. 

SI. NOX. FVRTVM. FACTVM. SIT. SI. IM. OCCISIT. IVRE. CAESVS. ESTO. 

SI, ADORAT. FVRTO. QVOD. NEC. MANIFESTVM. ESCIT. 

PATRONVS. SI. CLIENTI. FRAVDEM. FECERIT. SACER. ESTO. 

QVI. SE. SIERIT. TESTARIER. LIBRIPENSVE. FVERIT. NI. TESTIMONIVM. FARIA- 

TVR. IMPROBVS. INTESTABILISQVE. ESTO. 
QVI. MALVM. CARMEN. INCANTASSET. MALVM. VENENVM. 



TENTH TABLE. 
HOMINEM. MORTVVM. IN. VRBE. NE. SEPELITO. NEVE. VRITO. 
HOC. PLVS. NE, FACITO. — ROGVM. ASCIA. NE. POLITO. 

MVLIERES. GENAS. NE. RADVNTO, NEVE. LESSV3I, FVNERIS. ERGO. HABENTO. 
HOMINI. MORTVO. NE. OSSA. LEGITO. QVO. POST. FVNVS. FACIAT. 



400 HOME. [book v. 

QVI. CORONAM. PARIT. IPSE. PECVNIAVE. EIVS. VIRTVTIS. ERGO. DVITOR. EI. 
NEVE. AVRVM. ADDITO. QVOI. AVRO. DENTES. VINCTI. ESCVNT. AST. IM. CUM. 
ILLO. SEPELIRE. VREREVE. SE. FRAVDE. ESTO. 



TWELFTH TABLE. 
SI. SERVVS. rVRTVM. FAXIT. NOXIAMVE. NOCVIT. — 

SI. VINDICIAM. FALSAM. TVLIT SI. VELIT. IS TOR. ARBITROS. TRES. 

DATO. EORVM. ARBITRIO FRVCTVS. DVPLIONE. DAMNVM. DECIDITO. 

13. But the main work of the Decemvirs was the constitu- 
tion which they devised and sought to establish. In lieu of 
^, ^ ,., the double masristracy, half Patrician and half 

NewConstitii- ^^, , . ■, . , , -, i t -t t i 

tiou. Secoiid Plebeian, which had recently divided the state, 
and had threatened actual disruption, the Decem- 
virs instituted a single governmental body — a board of ten, 
half Patrician and half Plebeian, which was to supersede at 
once the consulate and the tribunate, and to be the sole Ro- 
man executive. The centuries were'to elect ; and the Patri- 
cian assembly was, probably, to confirm the election. It is 
suspected that the duration of the office was intended to ex- 
ceed a year ; but this is perhaps uncertain. 

14. Fairly as this constitution was intended, and really 
liberal as were its provisions, as a practical measure of re- 
The second lief it failed entirely. One member of the board, 
becomes"atyr- Appius Claudius, obtained a complete ascendency 
auny, B.C. 449. over his collcagucs, and persuaded them, as ^oon 
as they came into office, to appear and act as tyrants. The 
abolition ot all the other high magistracies had removed 
those checks which had previously restrained consuls, trib- 
unes, and even dictators; there was now no power in the 
state which could legally interfere to prevent an abuse of 
authority, unless it were the Senate ; and the Senate was on 
the whole inclined to prefer a tyranny which did not great- 
ly affect its own members, to the tumults and disorders of 
the last forty years. Rather than see the tribunate restored, 
the Patricians, and their representatives the senators, were 
prepared to bear much ; and thus there was. small hope of 
redress from this quarter. 

15. It was on the Plebeians that the yok-e of the Decem- 
virs pressed most heavily. It Was supposed that, as they 
had now no legal mode of even making their complaints 
heard, since there were no tribunes to summon the tribes to 



PART I., PER. ii.J THE SECOND SECESSION. 401 

Revolt breaks ^Tf^^'ct, thoy at any rate might be oppressed and in- 
p\% "^^^ suited with absolute impunity. Accordingly, they 
for the second were Subjected to every kind of wrong and indig- 
Decemvirsab- nity — the Deccmvirs and their partisans plunder- 
dicate,B.c.44s. ^^ them, outraged their j^ersons, heaped contume- 
ly upon them, and finally attacked them in the tenderest of 
all points — the honor of their families. Then at length re- 
sistance was aroused. As the wrongs of Lucretia had armed 
the Patricians against Tarquin, so those of Virginia produced 
a rising of the Plebeians against Appius. The armies, which 
were in the field, revolted : the commons at home rose ; and, 
when the Senate still declined to take any active steps against 
the Decemvirs, the whole mass of the Plebeians once more 
occupied the Mons Sacer. The walls of a new city began to 
rise ; the Roman state was split in two ; its foreign enemies, 
seeing their opportunity, assumed a threatening attitude ; 
destruction was imminent ; when at last the Senate yielded. 
Appius and his colleagues w^ere required by a decree [sench 
tusconsultum) to resign their offices, and, having now no 
physical force on which they could fall back, they submitted, 
and went through the formalities of abdication. 

16. Forced hurriedly to extemporize a government, the 
state fell back upon that form which had immediately pre- 
Re-estabiish- ^edcd the establishment of the First Decemvirate. 
mentofthe It was adopted, howcver, with certain modifica- 

consulate and . t^ . i-r>w • p i t* 

tribunate of tious. Prior to the Uecemvirate lor above thu'ty 
years, the Patricians had claimed and exercised 
the right of appointing by their own exclusive assembly one 
of the two consuls. It was impossible at the present con- 
juncture to maintain so manifestly unfair an usurpation. 
The free election of both consuls was consequently restored 
to the centuries. The tribunate of the Plebs w^as re-estab- 
lished exactly as it had existed before the Decemvirate. 
But the position of the other Plebeian magistrates was im- 
proved. The Plebeian "iediles" and judges were allowed 
the "sacrosanct" character; and the former were made 
custodians of all decrees passed by the Senate, Avhich it 
henceforth became impossible for the magistrates to ig- 
nore or falsify. Further, a distinct recognition was made 
of the right of the tribunes to consult the tribes on mat- 
ters of public concern, and thus initiate legislation — a right 



402 KOME. [book v. 

hitherto restiug merely upon grounds of reason and pre- 
scription. 

The law of Valerius and Horatius, " ut quod trihutim plehs jussisset popu- 
lum teneret" could not at this time have meant more, than that plehiscita 
should be binding, if they received the sanction of the Senate and Curies. 
This is further rendered evident by the later history of the Publilian and 
Hortensian laws. 

1 7. In relinquishing temporarily their claim to a share in 
the supreme magistracy for the purpose of securing at any 
Constitution ^^^* *^^^ restoration of the much-valued tribunate, 
ofB.c.442. i\^Q Plebeians were far from intendinsj to profess 

The cousul- • ^. t . , i -, • • 

ship super- thcmselves satisned with the exclusive possession 
combined "^ of high office by the other party. They exj)ected, 
SmTutary perhaps, that some proposition for giving them a 
tribunate. certain share in the government would emanate 
from the Patricians themselves, who were not universally 
blind to the justice of their claims. But, as time went on 
and no movement in this direction was made, the Plebeian 
leaders once more took up the question, and in b.c. 442, C. 
Canuleius, one of the tribunes, brought forward two seps^- 
rate but connected laws, one opening the consulshi]) to the 
Plebeian order, the other legalizing intermarriage between 
Patricians and Plebeians, and providing that the children 
should follow the rank of the father. Both laws encounter- 
ed a strenuous opposition ; and, according to one authority, 
no concession was made until the Plebs once more seceded, 
this time across the Tiber to the Janiculan Hill, wben the 
" Intermarriage Law " {lex de connuhio) was passed, and, in 
lieu of the other, a compromise was effected between the 
orders. It was agreed to put the consulate in commission, 
substituting for the double rule of two equal magistrates, 
which had hitherto prevailed, a "board of (probably) five 
persons* of unequal rank, among whom the consular powers 
were to be parcelled out. The duties with respect to the 
revenue, and the arrangement of the roll of the Senate, of 
the knights, and of the citizens generally in tlie centuries, 
which had hitherto been exercised by the consuls, were 

* Mommsen says "eight" — two censors, and six military tribunes; but 
there is no instance of a board of six military tribunes till b.c. 402, forty 
years later ; after which time there is no instance of a board containing less 
than six. 



PART I., PEK. II.] THE MILITARY TRIBUNATE. 403 

separated off and made over to two " Censors " elected by the 
centuries from among the nobles only. The remaining duties 
of the consuls were consigned to three " military tribunes," 
also elected by the centuries, but from the Patricians and Ple- 
beians indifferently. The latter officers were to be annual ; 
the former were to hold office for a term of five years. 

It is probable that the constitution of b.c. 442 was intended to supersede 
altogether that which preceded it, and to rule the elections year after year 
regularly. But the Patricians contrived to throw a doubt on this intention ; 
and the practice grew up of the Senate formally determining towards the 
close of the year whether the ensuing election should be one of military trib- 
unes or of consuls. In the latter case the Patricians were secure of the two 
seats without a struggle ; in the former there was danger that one or more 
Plebeians might be elected. 

18. The working of this constitution was extremely un- 
satisfactory to the Plebeians. By means of the irregular 
Uusatisfacto- alternation of the consulate with the inilitary 
twrcousti^u-^ tribunate, at least half the supreme magistracies 
tion. were monopolized by the nobles without the Ple- 
beians being able even to be candidates. With respect to 
the other half, it might have been thought that they could 
have avenged themselves. But practically it was found 
that only on rare occasions, under circumstances of peculiar 
excitement, could the centuries be induced to elect a Ple- 
beian candidate. The Patricians by their own votes and 
those of their clients in the centuries of the first class (see 
p. 385) had almost the complete control of the elections; and 
during nearly forty years, at the most three Plebeians ob- 
tained a place in the college. Even then their position was 
insecure. The colleges of sacred lore might be called upon 
to inquire whether some accidental informality at the elec- 
tion had not rendered it invalid. Of the three Plebeian 
tribunes elected under the constitution of b.c. 442, one was 
made to resign in his third month of office, because the au- 
gural tent had not been pitched rightly. 

19. Nor were the Plebeians compensated for their disap- 
pointment with respect to the constitution of b.c. 442 by 
iiiiberaitreat- mild or liberal treatment in other respects dur- 
piXSinsYn ing the forty years that it lasted (b.c. 442 to 
other respects. 402). The dignity of the censorship was indeed 
lessened by the ^milian law, which diminished the dura- 



404 ROME, [book v. 

tion of the office from five years to eighteen months ; but 
any advantage which the Plebeians might seem to have 
gained in this respect was counterbalanced by the elevation 
of the prefect of the city, an exclusively Patrician officer, to 
the position of a colleague of the military tribunes when 
there were no censors in office. A demand which the Ple- 
beians made for a share of the qusestorship was practically 
eluded in the way which had now come to be fashionable, 
by throwing the office open to both orders. Requests for 
allotments of land were either wholly rejected, or answered 
by niggardly assignments of two "jugera" to a man in por- 
tions of the territory very open to attack on the part of an 
enemy. The state-rents were generally withheld by the 
" possessores ;" and, to make up the deficiency in the rev- 
enue, the property-tax was unduly augmented. The de- 
mand of the tribunes, that the soldiers should receive pay 
during the time that they were on active service, was not 
complied with ; nor was any thing done to alleviate the 
pressure caused by the high rate of interest. 

20. Thus the Plebeians, though, by the letter of the con- 
stitution, they had made certain not inconsiderable gains 
-, ,.^ ,. since the abolition of the Decemvirate, were 

Modification . . ... 

of the military scarcely better contented with their position in 
Constitution the sta«te than they had been when Terentilius 
otB.c.402. ^^. when Canuleius commenced their agitations. 
And the Patricians were quite aware of their feelings. Ac- 
cordingly, when, about b.c. 403, the military position of 
Rome among her neighbors had become such as to justify 
the nation in entering upon a more important war than any 
hitherto waged by the Republic, and it was clear that suc- 
cess w^ould depend very much upon the heartiness and 
unanimity with which the whole nation threw itself into the 
struggle, the Patricians themselves came forward with pro- 
posals for a change in the military tribunate, and probably 
one also in the censorship, which had for their object the 
better contentation of the other order. A new constitution 
was framed ; and at the same time it was agreed that the 
state-rents should be carefully collected, and from the mon- 
ey thus obtained regular pay should be given to the sol- 
diers, who were now to be called upon to serve the whole, 
or nearly the whole, of the year. 



p^KT I., I'EK. II.] LAST WAR WITH VEIL 405 

Constitution of B.C. 402. («) The number of the military tribunes is 
raised from three to six, one of whom, however, is the "prasfectus urbis," 
and so necessarily a Patrician — perhaps even elected by the Patrician as- 
sembly. The other five are elected by the centuries freely from either order. 
(6) The censorship is, like the military tribunate, thrown open to both or- 
ders, (c) It is agreed that this constitution shall operate permanently ; or, 
in other words, that the consulate shall be wholly given up, and military 
tribunes hold office every year. 

21. The wars of the Republic had hitherto been of minor 
importance. After the yoke of Porsenna was thrown oiF 
Wars of the (^^^ § 6) ^ short and sharp struggle had super- 
Republic from vened with the Latins, who were compelled by 
meiutoB.o. * Sp. Cassius (b.c. 491), if not to renew their old 
'^^'' treaty, at any rate to enter into a league, offen- 

sive and defensive, with the Romans. The Hernicans of the 
Upper Liris country were soon afterwards (b.c. 484) forced 
by the same general to join the alliance. The special object 
of the league was to resist the encroachments of the Oscan 
nations, particularly the ^qui and Yolsci, who Avere now at 
the height of their power. A long struggle with these 
nations, attended with very varying success, had followed. 
Rome had at times been reduced to great straits. Many 
Latin cities had been taken and occupied by the Volscians. 
But, after above half a century of almost perpetual contest, 
the power of the Oscans began to wane. The confederated 
Romans, Latins, and Hernicans recovered most of their lost 
ground. Tarracina was reoccupied, b.c. 403. At the same 
time, the pressure of the Sabines upon Rome, constant in the 
earlier years of the Republic, had ceased. A great victo- 
ry, gained by the consul Horatius, in b.c. 446, had relieved 
Rome of this enemy, whose superabundant energies found 
for many years an ample scope in Southern Italy. Under 
these circumstances of comparative freedom from any press- 
ing danger, Rome felt that the time was come when she 
might make a fresh start in the race for power. She was 
cramped for room towards the north and west by the near 
vicinity of an important but not very formidable state, Veii. 
Having first tested her adversary's strength in a contest for 
the possession of that single post which the Etruscans still 
held south of the Tiber, namely, Fidenae, and having after 
some difficulty been successful so far (b.c. 423), Rome pro- 
ceeded in B.C. 402 to enter upon a fresh war wdth Yeii, dis- 



406 KOME. [book v. 

tinctly intending to effect, if she could, a permanent con- 
quest. 

22. The war with the Veientines, commenced in this spir- 
it, lasted, according to the tradition, ten years — b.c. 402 to 
(VarwithVeii ^^^' ^^^^^ ^^^^ for the first time maintained in 
B.C. 402-392, ''the field continuously an armed fierce, thus laying 
its capture and the foundation of that " standing army " to which 
^"^°* she ultimately owed most of her greatness. She 
made her attack on the powerful Etruscan state at a fortu- 
nate time. Almost contemporaneously with her first serious 
aggressions upon the southernmost city of the confederacy 
began that terrible inroad from the North which utterly 
shattered and broke up the Etruscan power in the plain of 
the Po, and first alarmed and then seriously crippled the 
strength of the Cis-Apennine league. Had not the Gallic in- 
■\ asion occupied the whole attention of the Northern Etrus- 
cans, it is probable that they, would have made common 
cause with the threatened Veii, in Avhich case the war would 
scarcely have terminated as it did in the capture and ruin of 
the city. 

Details of the last War with Veil b.c. 402 to 401. The Romans 
occupy various posts in the Veientine territoiy, and offer battle, which is de- 
clined. — B.C. 400. The siege of Veii is commenced — attempt at circumval- 
lation. The Veientines destroy the works, which are, however, restored late 
in the year. — b.c. 399. Aid brought to the Veientines by the people of Fa- 
lerii and Capena. The Roman works are carried and the besieging army is 
driven off. — b.c. 398. Roman armies invade the territories of Falerii and 
Capena. No great impression made.— b.c. 397. Siege of Veii re-formed. — 
B.C. 396. Second attempt of the Falisci and Capenates to relieve their neigh- 
bor fails. — B.C. 394. Attempt of the people of Tarquinii equally unsuccess- 
ful. — B.C. 392. Veii stormed by Camillus. 

23. The successful issue of the war with Veii encouraged 
the Romans to fresh efforts in the same direction. Capena 
Further gains was couqucred and her territory absorbed in the 
iuEtruria. j^^^, ^f^^^ Veil fell. Then Falerii was attacked 
and forced to cede some of her lands. The neighboring 
towns of Nepete and Sutrium submitted at the same time, 
and became Roman dependencies. Finally, war was de- 
clared against the Volsinians, and the Roman arms were 
carried beyond the Ciminian mountains. Here victory was 
again with the aggressors; but the success failed to bring 
any increase of territory. 



PART I,, PER. n.J GKEAT INKUAD OF TllE GAULS. 407 

24. But now the progress of Rome received a sudden and 
terrible check. The Gallic hordes, which had begun to 
... , ..^ swarm across .the Alps about b.c. 400, and had 

Attfick of the 

Gauls. Rome Conquered Northern Etruria nearly at the time 
urn , B. . o . ^yYiQii the Romans took Veii, after a brief pause 
crossed the Apennines, and spread like a flood over Central 
Italy. Whether Rome gave them any special provocation, 
or no, is doubtful. At any rate, they poured down the val- 
ley of the Tiber in irresistible force, utterly defeated the en- 
tire armed strength of the Romans upon the Allia, captured 
the city, and burnt almost the whole of it, except the Capi- 
tol. The Capitol itself was besieged for months, but still 
held out, when the Gauls, weary of inaction and alarmed for 
the safety of their conquests in the plain of the Po, consent- 
ed, on the payment of a large sum of money, to retire. 

It is questionable whether the destruction of Rome Avas so complete as gen- 
erally alleged. The Gauls would have wished to save a portion of the build- 
ings as a shelter to themselves against heat and wet. And these they would 
not have been likely to destroy at their departure under its circumstances. 
The town would probably have contained many solid stone buildings calcu- 
lated to resist a rapid conflagration. And the Capitol, with its temples and 
other public edifices, was, we know, nntouched. 

The question concerning the credibility of the early Roman histoiy de- 
pends to a considerable extent upon the amount of devastation committed by 
the Gauls. But it is also, in part, independent of that question, turning upon 
the further one, which of the existing monuments were likely to have been 
usually kept in the Capitol, or to have been removed to it before the siege 
began. 

25. It might have been expected that this fearful blow 
would have been fatal to the supremacy of Rome among the 
EflFectofthe Italic nations. But the result was otherwise. At 
Mmtaryhisto- Afst, indeed, conscquenccs followed which brought 
from B c™8T- ^^^^ Republic into serious danger, and seemed to 
355. menace its existence. The Latins and Hernicans, 
who had been united in the closest possible league with the 
Romans, the former for above, the latter for not much less 
than a century, took the opportunity of Rome's defeat to de- 
clare the league dissolved. The Oscan nations, the Volsci 
especially, renewed their attacks. The Etruscans took the 
offensive. Rome was saved from immediate destruction by 
the genius of Camillus, and then gradually rose again to 
power and preponderance by her own inherent energy. To 



408 HOME. [book v. 

nc'couiit for the sligbtness of the check which the Gallic con- 
quest gave to her external prosperity, we must bear in mind 
that the attack of the Gauls wa% not really upon Rome 
alone, or even upon Rome specially and peculiarly. The 
first burst of their fury had fallen on the Etruscans, and had 
permanently weakened that iniportant people. Their later 
irruptions injured the Italic nations generally, not Rome in 
particular. The Umbrians, Sabines, Latins, ^qui, and Vol- 
sci all suffered, perhaps about equally. Thus Rome, on the 
whole, succeeded in maintaining her place among the Italian 
states ; and, the same causes which had previously given her 
a preponderance continuing to work, she gradually lifted her- 
self up once more above her neighbors. She warred success- 
fully with the Volscians, and with several cities of the Lat- 
ins, which were now leagued wdth them. She held her own 
in Etruria. After an interval of about a generation she in- 
duced the Latins and compelled the Hernicans to resume 
their old position of confederates (b.c. 355) under her he- 
gemony. Within five-and-thirty years of the destruction of 
the city, Rome had fully recovered from all the effects of the 
blow dealt by the Gauls ; and, if we take into account the 
general weakness caused by the Gallic ravages, had relative- 
ly improved her position. 

26. While Rome thus, on the whole, prospered externally, 
her internal condition was also gradually improving. Tlie 
Internal histo- sccond military tribunate was not, indeed, very 
ry. Failure of niuch morc succcssful than the first, failing equal- 

tlie constitu- . . n i -m i - 

t ion of 15. c. 402. ly to coutcut the aspiratious 01 the Plebeian or- 

Recurreuce of * __, i •. .i ^ .• 

general pover- dcr. ihough it gavc them a larger proportion 
^^' of the high offices, the proportion was still so 

small — not so much as one-twelfth — that their dissatisfac- 
tion, not unreasonably, continued. They never obtained the 
military tribunate excepting under abnormal circumstances ; 
and on the single occasion on which they gained the censor- 
ship (b.c. 376), it was wrested from them under a religious 
pretext. The Patricians could still, ordinarily, command the 
votes of the centuries ; and, if a Plebeian obtained office, it 
was by Patrician sufferance or contrivance. Excepting un- 
der peculiar circumstances, the nobles were inclined to grasp 
as much power as they could ; and hence the Plebeians felt 
that they had no firm hold on the constitution, no security 



PART I., I'ER. II.] GENERAL rOVEHTY. 409 

for the continuance of even that small share of office Avhich 
had practically fallen to them. They would probably have 
8et themselves to obtain a change in the constitution many 
years before the Licinio-Sextian laws were actually brought 
Ibrward, had not the Gallic invasion produced such an ex- 
tent of poverty and debt as effectually cramped for a time 
all Plebeian aspirations, changing the struggle for equal 
rights into a struggle for existence. 

Causes of the general Poverty at this period, (a) Loss of property 
— farm-buildings, implements, crops, cattle, even seed-corn — in consequence 
of the Gallic inroad. (6) Necessity of borrowing money in order to rebuild 
the demolished houses and re-stock the plundered farms, (c) High rate of 
interest, owing to the necessary suspension of the Decemviral enactment. 
(d) Probable forfeiture of the security given to the State for the completion 
of the houses in a year, (e) Rise in the amount of property-tax, owing part- 
ly to the number of public buildings which required to be rebuilt or repaired, 
and partly to the non-payment of the state-rents. (/) Difficulty of provid- 
ing allotments at a time when Rome was not making much advance territori- 
ally. 

The second item might have been in great part spared, if Rome had been 
deserted and its population had removed to Veii. But the moral grounds 
against such a transfer of the capital far outweighed all the material ones in 
its favor. 

27. The first important result of the general prevalency of 

distress among the Plebeians was the attempt of M. Man- 

.„. ,,, lius. Less pure and disinterested than his pro- 
Affair of m. r^ ^. ^ . 1 T 1 T^l 1 • 

Maniius, B.O. totypc, bpunus Cassuis, he made the ilebeian 
wronojs the stalkino'-horse of his own ambition. 
Partly tempted, partly goaded into crime, he is entitled to 
our pity even though we condemn him. His intentions were 
probably at the first honest, and the means that he designed 
to use legal ; but the opposition which he encountered drove 
liim to desperate measures, and he became in the end a dan- 
gerous conspirator. Well would it have been for Rome had 
she possessed a method, like that which Athens enjoyed in 
the ostracism, of securing her own liberties by the tempora- 
ry banishment, rather than the death, of a great citizen ! 

28. During the Manlian struggle, and immediately after it, 
some slight eftbrts were made by the government to relieve 
Slight at- the general destitution. In b.c. 382 two thou- 
IfevefheVo^v- ^^"^ Plebeians received allotments of two and a 
«*"ty- half ji/grera at Satricum. Two years later, colonies 

18 



410 KOME. [book v. 

were sent out to Nepete in Etruria and to the Pontine marsh 
district. But these were mere palliatives, and in no way met 
or grappled with the disease. It was necessary, if the bulk 
of the Plebeian order was not to be swept away from the 
state, becoming the slaves of the Patricians or of foreigners, 
that measures should be taken on a large scale, both to meet 
the present distress, and to prevent such crises from recur- 
ring. 

29. Great difficulties call for, and seem in a way to pro- 
duce, great men. Fourteen years after the distress had be- 
Graud scheme ^^^^ considerable owing to the Gallic inroad, 
ofLicmiusaud two Plebeians of high rank and great ability, 

C. Licinius Stolo and L, Sextius, came forward 
with a scheme of legislation skillfully framed so as to cover 
all t?ie various heads of Plebeian grievance, and to provide 
at once a remedy for the actually existing evils and security 
against future oppression. Considering that there were two 
kinds of evil to remedy, political inequality and want, they 
fr.amed their measures against both. For the immediate re- 
lief of the needy, they brought forward their " lex de cere cille- 
no^^ which provided that whatever had been paid on any 
debt in the way of interest should be counted as a repay- 
ment of the principal and deducted from the amount due ; 
and that the balance remaining, if any, should be demanda- 
ble only in installments, which should be spread over the 
space of three years. For the prevention of the poverty 
in future, they proposed their " lex agraria " — which, in the 
first place, threw open the right of occupying the public land 
to the Plebeians ; in the second, affixed a limit beyond which 
occupation should not be carried ; and in the third, required 
all occupiers to employ in the cultivation of their farms a 
certain definite propoilion of free labor. For the establish- 
ment of the principle of political equality, they proposed the 
restoration of the consulship, with the proviso that one of the 
two consuls should each year be a Plebeian {lex de co7isula- 
tu) ; and the equal division of a sacred office, that of the keep- 
ers of the Sibylline books, between the two orders {lex de de- 
cemvir is sacrorimi). 

30. The importance of these laws was immense. They 
established fully the principle of the equality of the two or- 
ders, both as respected sacred and civil office — a principle 



PART I., PER. II.] LEGISLATION OF LICINIUS. 411 

iraportanceof which, once admitted, was sure to work itself out 
s^exulinYegis- to the full ill coui'se of time. They greatly al- 
I'-^tiou. Ksac- deviated the existing poverty, and by the two 
cep ance, ii.c. ^^^^.^^^^.^^^g ^^^, extending the right of occupation to 
Plebeians, and compelling the employment of a large amount 
of free labor on the public lands, they made considerable 
provision against extreme poverty in the future. Above all, 
they secured to the Plebeians a succession of champions in 
the highest offices of the State, who would watch over their 
interests and protect them against unfair treatment. Natu- 
rally, therefore, being so important, the laws were opposed 
with the utmost determination by the other order. The 
struggle, according to some authorities, was of eleven years' 
duration. It was probably not until a " secession " had be- 
gun, or at any rate was threatened, that the Patricians yield- 
ed, the laws received the sanction of both the Senate and 
the Assembly of the nobles, and a Plebeian consul, L. Sex- 
tius, was elected, b.c. 363. 

Two new offices arose in connection with tlie Licinio-Sextian legislation— 
the Prfetovship (exclusively Patrician) and the Curule ^dileship (alternately 
Patrician and Plebeian). The Prgetorship is perhaps best viewed as an office 
formed by detaching from the rest some of the old consular powers, and so 
as a sort of compensation to the Patricians for their loss of one consulship. 
(Compare the origin of the Censorship.) The Curule ^dileship was proba- 
bly an old office newly arranged— the Patrician ^dileship being new-cast, 
because of the admission of the Plebeians into the nation. 

31. It might have seemed that the struggle between the 
orders would now have come to a close— that Avhen the high- 
Time of reac- est civil, and one of the highest religious, offices 
dn?o-Sestlau" had been once opened to the Plebeian order, 
constitntion there remained nothinsc which the other order 

set aside ille- , ? i • n t> j. j.r. £> ^ 

gaily. could regard as worth tightmg lor, J:»ut the tact 

was otherwise. Not only were there, now as ever, among 
the Patricians those who would not yield without a struggle 
even the last " rag of privilege ;" but there existed in the 
body at this time a party disinclined to view the recent de- 
feat as decisive, or to accept it as final. During the quarter 
of a century which followed on the passage of the Licinio- 
Sextian laws, it was uncertain whether or no the Plebeian 
advance could be maintained. A certain amount of reaction 
set in. For the space of fourteen years — from b.c. 352 to B.C. 



412 ROME. [book v. 

339 — the regular operation of the Licinio-Sextian constitution 
was set aside. Instead of Plebeian consuls following each 
other in regular succession year after year, the Fasti show 
during the fourteen years seven Plebeian names only, while 
there are twenty-one Patrician. 

It is uncertain by what means this illegal system was introduced or main- 
tained ; hut there are grounds for suspecting that it was very mainly through 
the defection of a portion of the Plebeian nobility from the cause of their or- 
der. Four Plebeians, C. Marcius Eutilus, M. Popillius Lanas, C. Poetelius, 
and C. Plautius, seem to have become Patrician partisans, and as a reward for 
their services to have received through the influence of the Patricians an ac- 
cumulation of high offices. These men and their party among the Plebeians 
connived at the Patrician usurpations, Avhich were the less sensibly felt by the 
mass of the Order, as they affected directly only the interests of the compara- 
tively few wealthy families. 

32. The illegal setting aside of the Licinio-Sextian consti- 
tution could not fail to produce among the more prudent 
Discontent of ^^^^ far-sccing of the Plebeians violent discon- 
the Plebeians, ^^j^^^ jf ^ party in the State is once allowed to 
begin the practice of setting the law at nought, there is no 
saying where it will stop. The old champions of the Plebe- 
ian cause — the Licinii, Genucii, Publilii, etc. — must have 
been violently angered; and as time went on and the ille- 
gality continued, the bulk of the Order must have become 
more and more disgusted with their own renegades and 
with the Patrician usurpers. These last must have felt, dur- 
ing the whole time of the usurpation, that they walked upon 
a hidden volcano — that a fire might at any moment burst 
forth which would imperil the very existence of the commu- 
nity. 

33. It was probably with the view of pacifying and sooth- 
ing the discontented, that the Patricians granted during this 
Measures tak- interval many boons to the poorer classes. The 
down^Kis- re-establishment of the uncial rate of interest (10 
content. pg^. cent.) in B.C. 351, and the subsequent reduc- 
tion of the rate by one-half in b.c. 344, were popular meas- 
ures, evidently designed to gratify the lower orders. The 
tax on the manumission of slaves (b.c. 354) would also please 
them, since it would fall wholly upon the wealthy. Of a still 
more popular character were the general liquidation of debts, 
in B.C. 349, by means of a Commission empowered to make 



PART I., PER. II.] LICINIAN CONSTITUTION INFRINGED. 413 

advances from the treasury to all needy persons who could 
offer a fair security; and the suspension of the property-tax, 
and spread of the debts over the space of three years, which 
were among the measures of relief adopted in b.c. 344. The 
practical opening to the Plebeians without a struggle of the 
civil offices parallel with the Consulate— the Dictatorship 
and the Mastership of the Knights (b.c. 353)— may also be 
reo-arded as among the politic concessions of this period, 
made for the sake of keeping the Plebeians in good humor, 
and preventing an outbreak. 

34. But, though these boons and blandishments effected 
something, it was felt nevertheless that the state of affairs 
Fear of an ^ was unsettled, and that, on the occurrence of any 
dScera^Jace' Convenient opportunity, there would probably be 
policy.' ' a rising. Accordingly the government deter- 
mined, so far as in it lay, to avoid furnishing an opportuni- 
ty ; and hence, for almost the first time in the history of the 
Roman State, we find a policy of peace adopted and steadily 
maintained for a series of years. Between the years b.c. 355 
and 347, treaties of peace w^ere concluded with all the impor- 
tant powers of Central Italy ; and Rome left herself no ene- 
my against whom she could legitimately commence a war 
excepting the shattered remnants of the Oscan nations and 
perhaps the Sabines of the tract beyond the Anio. 

Peace and alliance were made with the Latins, b.c. 355 ; with the Herni- 
cans inlhe same year ; with the Samnites, b.c. 851 ; with Csere, b.c. 350 ; 
with Tarquinii and Falerii, in b.c. 348. It is not impossible that a treaty 
was made with the Gauls after the campaign of b.c. 346, after which they 
are never again found in Latium. A commercial treaty with the Carthagm- 
ians was made in B.C. 345 ; but this Avould not belong to the "peace policy 
here spoken of, since there was at this time no possibility of a war with Car- . 
thage. 

35. At length, in b.c. 340, twelve years after the Licinio- 
Sextian constitution had been set aside, an occasion offered 
The peace poi- which tempted the government to depart from its 
w^ ^'^u°h"^' peace policy, and to run the risk of internal trou- 
SamnTura. "bie which was well known to be implied in the 
commencement of a great and important war. The tempta- 
tion, one which it w^as impossible to resist, was the offer of the 
Campanians to become Roman subject-allies, if Rome would 
protect them against the Samnites. To accept this offer was 



414 ROME. [book v. 

to more than double the Roman territory ; to reject it was 
greatly to strengthen the Samnites, already the chief power 
of the south of Italy. The government, which though Pa- 
trician, was still Roman, was too patriotic to hesitate. Cam- 
pania was therefore received into alliance, and the First Sam- 
nite War was the immediate consequence. 

36. The military ojDcrations of the war will be described 
in the next portion of this book (Per. Ill, g 2) ; but its effect 
Mutiny of the on the civil history is too closely connected with 
soldiers. ^^^ period of which we are now treating to admit 
of separation from it. The Roman army, having carried on 
a successful campaign, Avintered in Campania; and the sol- 
dier-citizens, having thus had an opportunity of consulting 
together, determined to mutiny. Some were for a " seces- 
sion " to Capua, but the majority were for enforcing their 
will upon the usurping government at Rome. In vain the 
consuls, perceiving what was afloat, tried to disperse the 
army little by little before an outbreak should come. Their 
intention was perceived, and the mutiny took place at once. 
The army marched upon Rome and made its demands — the 
government met it with a hasty levy, but these troops re- 
fused to fight. Long negotiations followed. At length, a 
tribune of the Plebs, a Genucius, proposed and carried 
Restoration of through a series of laws, which were accepted on 
the Liciuio- "both sides as terms of reconciliation. The Licin- 

bextian con- 
stitution and ian constitution was practically re-established : 

passing of the , . - ^ . *' . -. -r-» 

Genucian ^ Dut it was cuactcd, as a just penalty on tlie Pa- 
aws, B.O. o . j^j.^gjr^j-jg f^Y their repeated usurpation of both con- 
sulships, that, though both consuls might never legally be 
Patricians, it should be allowable for both of them to be Ple- 
beians. To prevent any future seduction of a Plebeian par- 
ty by the temptation of accumulated oflices, it was enacted 
that no Plebeian should henceforth hold the same office 
twice within ten years, or two offices in the same year. To 
alleviate the remaining pressure of debt, there was an abso- 
lute abolition of all outstanding claims, and a law Avas pass- 
ed making the lending of money upon interest illegal. Some 
militarjT' grievances were at the same time redressed, provis- 
ion being made that no soldier should be dismissed the serv- 
ice without cause shown, and that no petty officer should be 
degraded to the ranks. On these conditions peace was re- 



TART I., PER. III.] LAWS OF GENUCIUS. 415 

established ; and domestic tranquillity being attained, Rome 
was once more ready to devote her whole strength to the 
forwarding of her interests abroad. 

For a full account of this interesting period of Roman histoiy, see an arti- 
cle contributed by the present writer to the Oxford and Cambridge Review 
for April, 1846 j pp. 241-257. 

THIRD PERIOD. 

History of Rome from the breaking out of the First Samnite War, B.C. 340, 
to the Commencement of the Wars with Carthage, B.C. 2G4. 

Sources, (a) Authors. Livy and Diodorus are the chief authorities 
for the earlier portion of this period; but the latter writer fails us after B.C. 
302. The fragments of Appian's Samnitica are of some value. For the 
war with Pja-rhus, Plutarch's Life of that hero is the main source ; but his 
narrative must be supplemented from the fragments of Dio Cassius, Dio- 
NYSius, and Appian, and from the continuous narratives of Justin, Orosi- 
us, and Zonaras. For the period following the departure of Pyrrhus from 
Italy (B.C. 275 to 264) these latter writers are almost our sole authorities. 
We may consult however with advantage the Epitomes of Livy and the brief 
abstract of Florus. (6) Inscriptions. The Fasti Capitolini are full and tol- 
erably continuous for the greater portion of this period. There belong also 
to it a certain number of sepulchral and other inscriptions, which will be 
found in — 

Orelli, J. C, Inscriptionum Latinarutn selectarum amplissima collectio. 
Turici, 1828 ; 2 vols. 8vo ; and in 

MoMMSEN, Th. , Inscriptiones Latince antiguissimce ad Ccesaris mortem, 
Berolini; 1863 ; folio. 

The modern Avriters best worth consulting on this period are those already 
mentioned (supra, p. 283) as authorities on the history of Period 11. 

1. The Third Period of Roman History is that of the great 
wars in Italy, whereby Rome succeeded in making herself 
External his- mistress of the entire Peninsula proper. It com- 
r?od?hiefly^^" priscs the four Samnite Wars, the great Latin 
important. ^^r, the war with Pyrrhus, a war with the 
Gauls, and several minor wars terminating in the conquest 
of the other lesser Italian nations. The external history of 
the period is thus of the highest interest; while the internal 
history is, comparatively speaking, scanty and unimportant. 

2. When Rome determined to accept the Campanians as 
subject-allies, she broke her treaty with Samnium, and prac- 
First war of tically made a declaration of war. Campania 
SamniulJj^.o. ^'^^ ^ Samnite dependency which had revolted, 
340-338. and which the Samnites were bent on subjuga- 



416 KOMK. [hook v. 

ting. The interposition of Rome in the quarrel resembled 
that of Athens in the eontest between Corinth and Corcyra 
(supra, p. 203). Morally, it could not be justified ; but, as a 
matter of policy, it could not bo impugned. Home already 
savy' that lier most formidable Italian rival Avas Samniunl, 
and that it was with Samnium she would liave to contend 
for the first place in Italy. A step which at once strength- 
ened hei-self and weakened her antagonist could not but be 
expedient ; and we can not be surprised that, despite its in- 
justice, the step was taken. 

Details of the "War. b.c. 340. Eome sends two consular armies into 
Campania, one of which enters Samnium from the west, while the Latins in- 
vade tlie country of the Teligni and threaten Samnium on the north. The 
lioman invading army gets into dithcuhies, but is extricated by the courage 
and conduct of a Decius. The Latins make no serious impression. The oth- 
er Koman army, however, which remains in Cam]>ania, gains two victories, 
one at Mount Gaurus, near Naples, and the other at Suessula. Both Komau 
armies winter in Campania. — k.c. 330. I\Iutiny of the Roman troops. The 
whole management of the war is left to the Latins, wlio carry it on success- 
fully, protecting Campania, and more than once defeating the Saranites. — B.C. 
338. The Romans and Latins invade Samnium separately. Rome, perceiv- 
ing that Latium has assumed an independent attitude, hastily mr.kes peace 
■with the Samnites, and determines to attemj)! the subjugation of Latium. 

3. Rome, about to engage in a war for supremacy with 
Latium, strengthened herself by an alliance with the knot 
Great Latin of Sabine communities known as "the Marsian 
War, 15.0. 337- Loaguc." Latium obtained the adhesion of the 
Campanians, Sidicinians, and Yolscians. Samni- 
um was an active ally to neither party, but took the oppor- 
tunity, which the contest oftered, to advance her frontier on 
the side of the Volscian territory. The struggle between the 
two main belligerents was begun and concluded within the 
space of three years, and, indeed, was virtually decided by 
the events of the first campaign. The battles of Vesuvius 
and Trilanum (b.c. 337) were stoutly contested by the Latins, 
but nevertheless were very decided Roman victories. Their 
efToct was to break up the confederacy. Many states at once 
submitted. Others continued a desultory and ineftectual re- 
sistance; but by the end of b.c. 335 the last Latin town had 
made its submission; and Rome, having effected the con- 
quest, proceeded to the w^ork of pacification. 

Pacification of Latium. The principles of the pacification were isola- 



PAUT I., PEii. HI.] GREAT LATIN WAR. 417 

tion and separation of interests. The federal meetings at the lucm Ferenti- 
nus were of course abolished. The rights of intermarriage between the citi- 
zens of the different states, and of holding lands in each others' territories, 
were suspended. S^jme cities, as Velitra and Antium, were occupied by 
Roman colonies. Others, as Tibur and Franeste, forfeited a large portion 
of their territon,'. One town, Tusculum, was simply restored to its former 
condition of a Iloman "municipium." Tlie same position was assigned to 
Aricia, Xomentum, and Pedum. Lanuvium was received into full citizen- 
ship. Laurentum, which had taken no part in the war, was allowed a nomi- 
nal independence. 

4. The conclusion of the great struggle with Latium is 
followed by a pause of twelve years, during which Kouie 
Pause of undertook nothing hut trivial and unimportant 
da?itfonTr ^'ars, and those chiefly wars which were forced 
33:^323.' ■" upon her. Her action was paralyzed by two 
causes, one internal, the other external. Her internal danger 
was from the subjected Latins, who were known to be dis- 
contented with their treatment, and might be exjjected to re- 
volt the moment Kome should enter upon any important con- 
test. The external cause of alarm was the invasion of Alex- 
ander of Epirus, iincle of Alexander the Great, w^ho landed 
in Italy, B.C. 3.31, at the invitation of the Tarentines. Alex- 
ander's quarrel was mainly with the Samnites and their de- 
pendent allies; but, if he had been successful against them, 
he would probably have attempted the conquest of Italy. 
Rome, doubtful of the result, protected herself by a treaty 
with the invader, and then nursed her strength and prepared 
herself to resist him if he should attack her. 

Mi.voR Wars of this Period. In b.c. 333 and 332 Rome attacks and 
reduces the Ausonians. The year after their reduction, she makes war on the 
Sidicini. In b.c. 327 Privernum and Fundi revolt under Vitruvius Yaccus. 
Fundi speedily submits. Privemum is reduced, b.c. 320. In the same year 
an attack of the Gauls is met and repulsed. 

5. The reverses which befell Alexander of Epirus, about 
B.C. 32.5, encouraged the Romans to resume their old policy 

of accf^rcssion, and to take steps which led natu- 
of Kome upon rally and almost necessarily to the renewal oi the 
Samnmm. struggle with Samnium. By founding the colo- 
ny of Fregellse on land conquered by the Samnites from the 
Volscians, a challenge was flung down to Samnium, which 
she could scarcely refuse to take up. This was followed by 
an attack on Palseopolis, an independent Greek city, w^hich 

18* 



418 ROME. [book v. 

had long been under Samnite protection. War ensued as a 
matter of course. The time had, in fact, come when Rome 
was prepared to contest, with the power which she recog- 
nized as her great rival, the mastery of Southern Italy. Mis- 
tress of Latium and Campania, and secured by treaties from 
any early Etruscan attack, she felt herself equal to a vast ef- 
fort ; and she therefore determined to seize the occasion for 
a war which should decide whether the hegemony of the 
peninsula, or at any rate of its southern portion, should be- 
long to herself or to the Samnites. 

6. The Second Samnite War — the duel between the two 
chief races of Italy — covered a space of twenty-one years, 
Second War from B.C. 323 to 303, inclusive. It divides itself 
umfB^St naturally into three portions. During the first, 
^02- from B.C. 323 to 319, the war languished, neither 

party apparently putting forth its full strength. During 
the second, from b.c. 319 to 312, the issue was really deter- 
mined by the three great battles, of the Caudine Forks, of 
Lautulse, and of Cinna. The third period, from b.c. 312 to 
303, was again one of languid hostilities, the war being un- 
duly spun out, partly by the stubborn resistance of the beat- 
en party, partly through the desultory attacks which were 
made upon Rome during these years by various enemies. 

Details of the War. First Period, b.c. 323 to 319. Rome obtains 
allies among the Lucanians and Apulians, and prepares to attack Samnium 
from the south ; but the Samnites cnxsh the Roman party in Lucania, b.c. 
323. Rome then makes war on the Vestini and the othei* members of the 
Marsian League, defeats them and establishes a line of communication with 
Apulia through their territories, b.c. 322. The next year the war is trans- 
ferred into Apulia, with such effect that in B.C. 320 the Samnites make prOv 
posals for peace. These, however, are rejected, and the war continues. Sec- 
ond Period, b.c. 319 to 312. The great victory of the Caudine Forks is 
gained by C. Pontius, B.C. 319. Half the Roman army is destroyed. The 
rest surrenders, but is released from captivity, on the signature of a peace by 
the consuls and two tribunes of the Plebs. The authorities, however, having 
recovered their men, refuse to be bound by the treaty, which they declare in- 
formal. The war continues without any very important event till the year 
B.C. 313, when the battle of Lautulje is fought. This is a second great Sam- 
nite victoiy, and seems to promise them complete success in the war. Cam- 
pania revolts from Rome. The Ausonians join the Samnites. The Vol- 
scians of Sora go over to them, massacring the Roman colonists, Luceria, 
one of the chief towns of Apulia, deserts the Roman alliance. There is a 
general expectation that the Samnites are going to carry all before them, and 
a wide-spread defection from the Roman cause. But in the ensuing year all 



TART I., PER. III.] SECOND SAMNITE WAR. 41 9 

is reversed. By a vast effort Rome succeeds in bringing into the field an 
army larger and better appointed than that Avhich had been lost ; the Sam- 
nites are once more met in the field ; and the Romans gain the victory of 
Cinna, defeating their enemy with such loss that there is no after-recovery 
from the blow. Third Pkriod, b.c. 311 to 303. The Romans carry the 
war into Samnium, which they ravage year after year. Only two battles of 
any importance are fought. In b. c. 308 the Samnites make a last eftbrt, de- 
feat the Romans under C. Marcius Rutilus, but are in their turn defeated by 
L. Papirius Cursor. The war is prolonged in consequence of the efforts 
which are made to help Samnium by other powers, as by the Etruscans, in 
B.C. 309 and 308 ; by the Umbrians, in the latter year; by the Marsi and 
Peligni, in B.C. 307 ; by the Sallentini, in b.c. 306 ; and by the ^qui and 
Hernici, in b.v. 305. "Could the efforts of these various nations have been 
concentrated into one great attack, Rome, if she had not succumbed, might 
have received a serious check. But the want of union among her foes gave 
her an easy triumph : CA^ry attack was repulsed ; and in the year B.C. 303, 
Samnium, in despair, submitted, becoming politically subject to the Romans, 
but retaining its internal independence. 

7. The Second Samnite War brought the disaifection of 
the Latms very rapidly to a head. In b.c. 322, the second 
Kevoitand year of the war, there was beyond a doubt a 
don of La-''''" gi*eat Latin revolt. Tusculum, Velitrse, and Pri- 
tium, B.C. 322, vcrnum, three of the cities which had experi- 
enced the harshest treatment, took the lead. A night at- 
tack seems to have been made on Rome, and great alarm 
caused. The Roman government, however, met the danger 
with its usual wisdom. While some recommended meas- 
ures of extreme violence, the Senate adopted a policy of 
conciliation. Terms were made with the rebels, some of 
whom were given, others promised, full citizenship. The 
discontented part of Latium was, in fact, incorporated into 
Rome. To mark the completeness and reality of the union, 
L. Fulvius, the leader of the revolt, became consul for the 
year, b.c, 321. Henceforth Latium ^was satisfied with its 
position, and continued faithful through all the later troub- 
les and rebellions. 

8. An interval of five years only — b.c. 303 to 298 — sepa- 
rates the Second from the Third Samnite War. Rome util- 
intervaibe- ^^^^ ^* ^J Completely reducing the remnant of 
tween Second the JEquiau people, by bringing the four nations 
Samnite Ware, forming the Marsian League into the position of 

her subject-allies, by making alliances with the 
Frentani and Picentini, and by seizing and occupying the 



420 ROME. [book v. 

strong position of Nequinum (Narnia) in Umbria. She also 
clurino- this period sent aid to the Lucanians, who were at- 
tacked by Cleonymus of Sparta. Samnium probably nego- 
tiated, during the pause, with the Etruscans, Umbrians, and 
Gauls, taking steps towards the formation of that " League 
of Italy " which she brought to bear against Kome in the 
ensuing war. 

9. The Third Samnite War is the contest of confederated 
Italy against the terrible enemy whose greatness was now 
Third Sara- Seen to threaten every power in the peninsula. 
Generafout- ^^^ turning-point, which well deserves its place 
^^°6- among the ten or twelve "Decisive Battles of the 

World," was the battle of Sentinum. After two years of 
comparatively petty Avarfare, Samnium, in b.c. 296, brought 
the projected alliance to bear. Gellius Egnatius marched, 
with the flower of the Samnite force, across Central Italy 
into Etruria. The Gauls and Umbrians joined ; and in b.c. 
295, the confederate army of the four nations advanced 
upon Rome, which appeared to be on the brink of destruc- 
tion. But a bold step taken by the Romans saved them. 
Instead of standing merely on the defensive, they met the 
invaders with one army under the consuls Fabius and De- 
cius, while they marched another into the heart of Etruria. 
On hearing this, the selfish Etruscans, deserting their con- 
federates, drew off to protect their own country. The Sam- 
Battle of Sen- nites and Gauls retired across the Apennines to 
tiuum. Sentinum, losing the Umbrians on the way, who 

remained to protect their own towns. Rome followed the 
retreating force, and after a desperate struggle defeated it, 
thus really deciding the war. The confederation was bro- 
ken up. The Gauls took no further part in the contest. 
Rome carried it on separately with Etruria on the one side 
and Samnium on the other, till the exhaustion of both pow- 
ers compelled them to make peace. Samnium was forced to 
submit unconditionally, w^as mulcted in a portion of its ter- 
ritory, and became a subject-ally of Rome. 

Details of the War. First Period, b.c. 298 to 297. The Samnites, 
B.C. 298, form alliances with the Lucanians and Apulians. Roman armies 
invade Etruria and Samnium, defeat the Etruscans at Volaterra, and take 
Bovianum and Aufidena in Northern Samnium. — B.C. 297. Fabius defeats 
the Samnites and Decius the Apulians. Lucania compelled to submit to 



PART I., PER. III.] THIRD SAMNITE WAR. 421 

Rome. Second Period, b.c. 296 to 295. Gellius Egnatiiis marches into 
Etnma.— B.C. 296. The whole Roman force being collected to meet him, 
Samnium invades Campania, which, however, Rome recovers towards the 
close of the year.— b.c. 295. The Gauls and Umbrians join the Etruscans 
and Samnites. Advance -of the allied army. Destruction of a Roman legion 
at Clusium. Romans invade Etraria. Allies retreat. Battle of Sentinum. 
The Gauls withdraw from the alliance. Third Period, b.c. 294: to 290. 
War carried on bv the Romans separately in Etruria and Samnium. Des- 
perate resistance of the Samnites. Great effort made in B.C. 292. Defeat 
of Fabius Gurges by C. Pontius, followed by the defeat and capture of Pon- 
tius by Fabius Maximus. Pontius led in triumph and pif to death, b.c. 
291. The Samnites submit, b.c. 290. 

10. Ten years intervened between the close of the Third 
Samnite War and the commencement of the next great 
Interval be- Struggle in which Rome was engaged. Muck 
tween'the obscuritv rcsts upon this interval, in which we 

Third Samnite •'., />t. • i . a j. • • ^.v. *. 

war and the lose the guidance of Livy without obtaining tnat 
SVb^o.290- of Plutarch. It appears, however, that shortly 
^^^' after the close of the Third Samnite War troub- 

les broke out afresh in Southern Italy in. consequence of a 
war between the Lucanians and the Greeks of Thurii, b.c. 
288. Rome interfered to protect Thurii, whereupon the Lu- 
canians effected a nnion against Rome of the Gauls (Seno- 
nes), Etruscans, Umbrians, Samnites, Lucanians, Bruttians, 
andTarentines, which, in the year b.c. 283, menaced the Re- 
public with destruction. But, though brought into serious 
danger, Rome triumphed over her difficulties. Fabricius de- 
feated the combined Lucanians and Bruttians, relieved Thu- 
rii, and received the submission of almost all the Greek 
towns of the neighborhood except Tarentum. Dolabella 
avenged on the Senonian Gauls the defeat of Metellus at Ar- 
retium, by seizing their country a-nd driving them beyond 
its borders. The Etruscans, and their allies, the Boii (Gauls), 
w^ere defeated with great slaughter at Lake Vadimon. Ta- 
rentum alone remained unpunished. It was probably to in- 
flict damage on this covert enemy, with whom as yet there 
had been no actual contest, that a Roman fleet was sent in 
B.C. 282, contrary to the terms of an existing treaty, to cruise 
round the heel of Italy. This fleet having been attacked and 
sunk by the Tarentines, who also took possession of Thurii, 
Rome in b.c. 281 declared war against Tarentum, which, ac- 
customed to lean on Greece for support, invited over the 



422 ROME. [book v. 

Epirote prince Pyrrhus, who had already made himself a 
name by his victory over Demetrius Poliorcetes, and his 
first brief reign over Macedonia. (See p. 291.) 

11. The war with Pyrrhus lasted six years, from b.c. 280 

to 274. It was the first trial of strength between Macedon- 

ized Greece and Rome. Pyrrhus brought with 

War with , . . t i r> n ^ 

Pyrrhus, B.O. him into Italy an army oi 22,500 foot and 3000 

2S0— 2T4. . . r . . 

horse, disciplined in the Macedonian fashion, and 
also 20 elepJiants. At the outset he obtained no troops from 
any Italians but the Tarentines, whose services were almost 
worthless. Nevertheless, in his first battle on the Siris, 
though with an army inferior in number, he completely de- 
feated the Romans, chiefly by the help of his elephants, 
which disconcerted the Roman cavalry. All Lower Italy 
then joined him ; and, in the remainder of the contest, he 
had the assistance of the Italian Greeks generally, of the Lu- 
canians, the Bruttians, and, above all, the Samnites. But 
neither after his first victory, near Heracleia, nor after his 
second, at Ausculum (Ascoli),was he able to effect any thing. 
The battles which he gained were stoutly contested, and cost 
him, each of them, several thousands of men, whom he could 
not replace and could ill spare. His power necessarily 
waned as time went on. His allies, except the Samnites, 
were of little value. His Greek troops harmonized ill with 
the Italians. Above all, while he fought for glory, the Ro- 
mans fought for their existence; and their patriotism and 
patient courage proved more than a match for the gallantry 
and brilliant strategy of their opponent. It was as much 
from disgust at his ill success, so far as the general ends of 
the war were concerned, as from the attraction of a tempt- 
ing offer, that Pyrrhus, in b.c. 278, quitted Italy for Sicily, 
accepted the Protectorate of the Greeks, and engaged in a 
war with the Carthaginians which threw them on the Ro- 
man side. Successful in this quarter to a certain extent, 
but, with his usual restlessness, leaving his conquest uncom- 
pleted, the Epirote prince returned to Italy with difficulty ; 
and, having lost Sicily almost at the moment of his depart- 
ure, engaged the Romans in a third battle near Beneventum, 
and being there completely defeated, gave up the war, and 
returned with the almost entire loss of his army, but with 
heightened reputation, to his native country. 



PART I., PER. III.] WAR WITH PYRRHUS. 423 

Chronology of the War. Pyrrhus lands in Italy early in b.c. 280. 
Defeats Lagvinus near Heracleia in the autumn of the same year. Attempt 
to conclude peace fails. Advance of Pyrrhus into Apulia, b.c. 279. Battle 
of Ausculum. Pyrrhus invited into Sicily. Second attempt at a peace, b.c. 
278. Pyrrhus, leaving garrisons in Tarentum and Locri, sails to Syracuse. 
The Romans recover all Southern Italy except Tarentum. Return of Pyr- 
rhus from Sicily, b.c. 276. Battle of Beneventum. Pyrrhus quits Italy. 

12. The departure of Pyrrhus was followed rapidly by 
the complete subjugation of Southern Italy. Tarentum sur- 
consoiidation rendered b.c. 272. Lucania and Bruttium sub- 
powe^rfn pe*-^ mitted in the same year. Rhegium was stormed, 
ry"l"J'^276-^" ^•^- ^'^^' ^^ Samnium a guerrilla warfare was 
265. maintained till b.c. 269, when resistance finally 
ceased. The Sallentines and Messapians were conquered in 
B.C. 266. At the same time Rome extended and consoli- 
dated her power in the North. A quarrel was picked with 
Picenum in b.c. 268. War and subjection followed; and, to 
prevent future resistance, half the nation was torn from its 
native land and transplanted to the opposite coast, where it 
received settlements on the Gulf of Salernum. In b.c. 266, 
Umbria was forced to make its submission ; and in the year 
following, Yolsinii, the chief of the Etruscan towns, was be- 
sieged, taken, and razed to the ground. At the close of the 
year b.c. 265, Rome reigned supreme over the length and 
breadth of Italy, from the Macra to Tarentum and Rhegium. 

13. The chief means by which Rome established and se- 
cured her power was her system of colonies, with its supple- 
System of col- nient, her military roads. The foundation of col- 
©uies. onies began, if we may believe the Roman histo- 
rian^ under the kings. At any rate, it is certain that early 
in the struggle between the combined Romans, Latins, and 
Hernici on the one hand and the Oscan nations on the other, 
the plan of establishing colonies, as garrisons, in towns taken 
from the enemy, was very widely adopted. Such colonies 
were made up, in equal or nearly equal proportions, of citi- 
zens of the three nations, who together formed the burgher 
or Patrician body in the city where they took up their 
abode, the previous inhabitants counting only as a " Plebs." 
The system, thus employed by Rome in conjunction with 
her allies, was afterwards made use of copiously in the con- 
quests which she efiected for her own sole advantage. As 
Terminus advanced, either colonies of Roman citizens (colo- 



424 ROME. [book v. 

nioe civium JRomanorum),w'ho retained all their civic rights, 
or "Latin colonies " {colonim Latinm), consisting of Romans 
who by becoming colonists lost their rights of voting in the 
Roman " comitia " and of aspiring to honors (jus suffragii et 
Jionorum)^ but retained the rest of their citizenship, were 
planted far and wide over Italy. These colonists, being Ro- 
mans, having many Roman rights, and being planted in an 
invidious position among aliens, naturally clung to the moth- 
er-city, and were the great bulwarks of Roman power 
throughout the peninsula. 

The following places are said to have been founded as colonies under the 
kings : — Antemnee and Crustumerium, ascribed to Romulus ; Ostia, to An- 
cus ; Signia and Circeii, to Tarquinius Superbus. Among the joint colonies 
of the Romans, Latins, and Hernici, were probably Signia, founded B.C. 493 ; 
Velitrse, founded B.C. 492; Norba, founded B.C. 490; Cora and Suessa Po- 
metia, founded probably about the same time; Antium, founded B.C. 465, 
afterwards recovered by the Volscians; Ardea, founded b.c. 439; Lavici, 
founded b.c. 415 ; Circeii, re-founded b.c. 391 ; Vitellia, founded before b.c. 
390 ; Satricum, founded b.c. 382 ; and Setia, founded b.c. 379, strengthened 
B.C. 376. Among Roman colonies, mostly, however, with Latin rights, 
were Sutrium, founded about b.c. 383; Nepete, founded b.c. 380 ; Antium, 
founded b.c. 335; Cales, founded b.c. 332; Anxur or TaiTacina, founded 
B.C. 326 ; Fregellse, founded b.c. 325 ; Luceria, founded b.c. 312 ; Suessa 
Aurunca and Pontiae, founded b.c. 311; Casinum and Interamna, founded 
B.C. 310; Saticula, founded probably about the same time; Sora and Alba 
Fucentia, founded b.c. 302; Carseoli, founded b.c. 301; Narnia, founded 
B.C. 299 ; Minturnge and Sinuessa, founded B.C. 296; Venusia, founded b.c. 
291 — 20,000 colonists sent there ; Hatria in Picenum, founded b.c. 289 ; 
Sena, founded b.c. 283 ; Pajstum and Cosa, founded b.c. 273 ; Beneventum 
and Ariminum, founded b.c. 268 ; Pirmium and Castrum Novum, founded 
B.C. 264 ; and iEsernia, founded b.c. 263. Of these by far the greater num- 
ber were colonice Latince ; but Ostia, Circeii, and the maritime colonies gen- 
erally, were colonice civium Romanorum. 

14. Closely connected with the Roman colonial system 
was that of the military roads. The genius of Appius Clau- 
dius Caecus first conceived the idea of connecting 
aiyroa . -^^^^ ^^\th_ her newly-annexed dependency, Cam- 
pania, by a solid paved road of excellent construction (b.c. 
310 to 306). This road, which issued from the Porta Cape- 
na (Gate of Capua), passed through Aricia, Velitrae, Setia, 
Tarracina, Minturnse, Sinuessa, and Casilinum to Capua; 
whence it was carried, probably as early as b.c. 291, to Ve- 
nusia, and later to Brundusium. Much of the work still re- 
mains, and attracts the admiration of travellers. 



PART I., PER. III.] ROMAN GOVERNMENT OF ITALY. 425 

It is doubtful whether any other of the great vun belong to this period. 
The " Via Valeria" probably took its name from the censor of B.C. 305, M. 
Valerius Maximus ; but it is not likely that any part of the real solid vi'a was 
made by him. 

On the general subject of the Roman Roads, see the work of Bergier, 
Histoire des grands chemins de V Empire Romaine (Paris, 1622, 4to) ; and 
NiBBY, Delle Vie degli Antichi dissertazione, in the 4th volume of the 4th 
Roman edition of Nardini's Roma Antica (Roma, 1818-20 ; 4 vols. 8vo). 

On the colonial system of the Romans, see Madvig, J. N., De Jure et Con- 
ditione Coloniarum Populi Romani, Haunije, ] 832 ; 4to. 

15. The mode in which Rome, having attained her suprem- 
acy, administered the government of Italy, was exceeding- 
Relations of ly complicated. It is impossible in a work like 
Sib?ect com^- ^^^6 present to do more than point out the main 
muuities. features of the system, and distinguish, one from 
another, the principal classes into which the population of 
the state was divided. Broadly, we may say that the Ro- 
man Republic bore sway in Italy over a host of minor re- 
publics. Self-government was most widely spread. Every 
colony was a sort of independent community, electing its 
own officers and administering its own affairs. Every for- 
eign city under their rule was recognized by the Romans as 
a separate state, and was placed on a certain definite footing 
with regard to the central community. The most highly 
favored were the foederatce civitates — states that had submit- 
ted to Rome upon terms varying of course in different cases, 
but in all implying the management of their own affairs, the 
appointment of their own governors, and the administration 
of their own laws. Next to these in advantage of position 
were the mimicipia, foreign states which had received all 
the burdens together with some or all of the rights of Ro- 
man citizenship. Last of all came the dedititii, natives of 
communities which had surrendered themselves to Rome ab- 
solutely, and which had all the burdens Avithout any of the 
rights of citizens. Roman law was administered in these 
communities by a governor {prmfectus) appointed by Rome. 

Besides the classes above enumerated, and occupying a still lower position, 
were, (1) the native inhabitants of the cities occupied by Roman or Latin 
colonies, who were almost without rights ; and (2) the Slaves, who were the 
absolute property of their masters. 

16. Rome reserved to herself three principal rights, where- 
by she regarded her sovereignty as sufficiently guarded, {a) 



426 ROME. [book v. 

Rights of sov- She alone might make peace or declare war ; (b) 
tetl^edtoher- ^hc alouc might reccive embassies from foreign 
self by Rome, powers; and (c) she alone might coin money. 
She had also undoubtedly the right (d) of requiring from her 
subject-allies such contingents of troops as she needed in any 
war ; which involved a further right (e) of indirect taxation, 
since the contingents were armed and paid by the communi- 
ty which furnished them. She did not, like Athens, direct- 
ly tax her subject-allies; but she derived nevertheless an im- 
portant revenue from them. On the conquest of a state, 
Rome always claimed to succeed to the rights of the previ- 
ously existing government ; and, as each Italian state had a 
public domain of some kind or other, Rome, as she pushed 
her conquests, became mistress of a vast amount of real 
property of various kinds, as especially mines, forests, quar- 
ries, fisheries, salt-works, and the like. Further, generally, 
when a state submitted to her after a war, she required, be- 
yond all these sources of revenue, the cession of a tract of 
arable or pasture land, which she added to her old " ager 
publicus." Thus the domain of Rome was continually in- 
creasing ; and it was (at least in part) to collect the revenue 
from the domain throughout Italy that, in B.C. 267, the four 
" Italian quaestors " were appointed, " the first Roman func- 
tionaries to whom a residence and a district out of Rome 
were assigned by law." 

17. The constitutional changes in Rome itself during the 
period under consideration were not very numerous or im- 
Constitution- P^i'tant. They consisted mainly in the carrying 
ai changes iu out to their losjical result of the Licinio-Sextian 

Rome Itself. . ° , . t • i . 

Equalization enactments — m the complete equalization, that is, 
of the Orders. ^^ ^^^ t WO Orders. By the laws of Publilius 
Philo, of Ovinius, and of the Ogulnii, the last vestiges of Pa- 
trician ascendency were removed, and the Plebeians were 
placed in all important respects on a complete equality with 
the Patricians. Admitted practically to a full moiety of the 
high governmental offices, they acquired by degrees, through 
the operation of the Ovinian law, an influence fully equal to 
that of the Patricians in the Senate. By the tribunate, 
which remained exclusively theirs, they had even an advan- 
tage over the other Order. The strong-hold of the exclusive 
party, which last yielded itself, was, naturally, that of relig- 



PART I., PER, III.] FIRST DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT. 427 

ious privilege. But when the Pontificate and the Augur- 
ship were fairly divided between the Orders, the struggle 
between the "houses" and the commons was over, and 
there was nothing left for the latter to desire. 

Legislation of Publilius Philo, b.c, 339. One place in the censorship se- 
cured to the Plebeians. Pratorship (probably) thrown open. Right of the 
Patrician Assembly to interfere with legislation abolished, or made a mere 
form. Law of Ovinius (date uncertain) gives all ex-consuls, praetors, and 
curule gediles a right to seats in the Senate. Ogulnian Law, b.c. 300, en- 
larges the colleges of Pontiffs and Augurs, and gives half the places in each 
to the Plebeians. 

18. But the termination of the internal struggle which had 
hitherto occupied the commonwealth, and secured it against 
New agita- the deadly evil of political stagnation, was not 
ture attempt' Complete before a new agitation manifested itself, 
c^miE cse- an agitation of a far more dangerous character 
iShthed?" "than that which was now just coming to an end. 
mocracy. Hitherto the right of suffrage at Rome, at any 
rate in the more important of the two popular assemblies — 
the tribes (comitia tributa) — had rested upon the double ba- 
sis of free birth and the possession of a plot of freehold land. 
About B.C. 312, the class which these qualifications excluded 
from the franchise began to exhibit symptoms of discontent. 
Appius Claudius Csecus, one of the boldest of political in- 
novators, perceiving these symptoms, and either regarding 
them as a real peril to the State or as indicating an occasion 
which he might turn to his own personal advantage, being 
censor in the year above mentioned, came forward as the 
champion of the excluded classes, and, after vainly attempt- 
ing to introduce individuals belonging to them into the Sen- 
ate, enrolled the entire mass both in the centuries and in the 
tribes. Nor was this all. Instead of assigning the new 
voters to the city tribes, within whose local limits they for 
the most part dwelt, Appius spread them through all, or a 
majority, of the tribes, and thus gave them practically an 
absolute control over the elections. Their power was soon 
seen, (1) in the election of a freedman, Cn. Flavius, to the cu- 
rule gedileship, which gave him a seat in the Senate for the 
remainder of his life ; and (2) in the election of tribunes who 
enabled Appius to prolong his term of ofiice illegally to the 
close of the fourth year. This was the inauguration of a 



428 ROME. [book v. 

real ochlocrcacy, a government in which the preponderating 
weight belonged to the lowest class of the people. Evil 
consequences would no doubt have been rapidly developed, 
had not the work of Appius been to a great extent undone — 
the sting extracted from his measures — by the skill and bold- 
ness of two most sagacious censors. When Q. Fabius Maxi- 
„ , , musand P. Decius Mus, b.c. 304, removed all who 

Moderate ar- , ' . ' . 

rauoement were without landed qualification and all the 
Fabius Maxi- poorer frccdmcn from the country tribes, and dis- 
'""^' tributed them among the four city tribes only, 

the revolutionary force of Ap. Claudius's proceedings w^as 
annulled, and nothing remained but a very harmless, and al- 
most nominal enfranchisement of the lower orders. When 
the "factio forensis" could command the votes of four tribes 
only out of thirty-one, or ultimately of thirty-five, it was ren- 
dered powerless in the comitia tributa. In the centuries it 
was of course even weaker, since there wealth had a vast 
preponderance over mere numbers. 

19. The pressure of poverty still continued to be felt at 
Rome for many years after the Licinian, and even after the 
Relief of pov- ^^nucian legislation, An insurrection, proceed- 
eitybymeans \r\cf to the leufftli of a sccession, occurred in b.c. 

of COlOUieS. c:" c:> ' ^ 

287 in consequence of the wide-spread distress. 
An abolition of debts was found to be once more a State ne- 
cessity, and was submitted to Avith a view to peace and the 
contentation of the poorer classes. But the tide of military 
success, which soon afterwards set in, put a stop for a long 
term of years to this ground of complaint and disturbance. 
The numerous and large colonies which were continually be- 
ing sent out from b.c. 232 to 177, were an effectual relief to 
the proletariate, and put an end for the time to any thing 
like extreme poverty among Roman citizens. At the same 
time the farming of the revenue largely increased the wealth 
of the more opulent classes. It is not till about b.c. 133 that 
we find the questions of debt and of the relief of poverty 
once more brought into prominence and recognized as mat* 
ters which require the attention of statesmen. 



PART I., PEK. IV.] EXTERNAL RELATIONS. 429 



FOURTH PERIOD. 

From the Commencement of the First War ivith Carthage to the ^^e of 
the Civil Broils under the Gracchi. B.C. 264 to 133. 

Sources. The most important of the ancient authorities for this period is 
PoLYBius, the earhest writer in whom we see fully developed the true spirit 
of historical criticism. If the great work of this author (see p. 17) had come 
down to us in a complete form, we should no more have needed any other 
authority for the period treated in it, than we need any work, besides that of 
Thucydides, for the history of the Pelopontiesian War, from b.c. 431 to 411. 
Unfortunately, the complete books descend no lower than b.c. 216 ; and even 
the fragments foil us from the year b.c. 146. Consequently, after b.c. 216 
we have to depend very much upon other writers, as especially Livy, whose 
"Second Decade" covers the space from b.c. 218 to 166, thus taking up 
the history almost exactly where the complete books of Polybins break off. 
Next to Polybius and Livy may be placed Appian, whose Punica, Bellum 
Hannibalicum, and Iberica belong to this period and occasionally throw im- 
portant light upon the course of events. The epitome of Florus is not here 
of much value. The biographer, Plutarch, on the other hand, is a consid- 
erable help, his "Lives" of Fabius Maximus, P. JEmilius, Marcellus, M. 
Cato, and Flamininiis falling, all of them, within this brief space of one hun- 
dred and thirty years. The short Life of Hannibal by Corn. Nepos pos- 
sesses also some interest ; and occasional aid may be derived from Diodo- 
Rus, and Zonaras. 

Of modern writers on this portion of Roman History, besides those already 
noticed (supra, pp. 373 and 374), the following should be consulted : 

Montesquieu, Marquis de. Considerations sur les causes de la grandeur 
des Romains et de leur decadence. Amsterdam, 1734 ; 8vo. 

]. In the "Fourth Period" of Roman History, as in the 
"Third" (see p. 415), and even more decidedly, the interest 
F.mrthPen- attaches itself to the external relations of the 
lutere^ronlie P^^^l® ''^^^^^^* *^^^^ ^^ their, internal condition, 
external his- The interval comprises the long struggle with 
Carthage, the Gallic War and conquest of the 
plain of the Po, the three Macedonian Wars, the war with 
Antiochus of Syria, the conquest of Greece, the Numantine 
War, and the reduction of most of the Spanish Peninsula. 
At the commencement of the period the dominion of Rome 
was confined to the mere peninsular portion of Italy ; at its 
close she bore sway over the whole of Southern Europe from 
the shores of the Atlantic to the straits of Constantinople, 
over the chief Mediterranean islands, and over a portion of 
North Africa; while, further, her influence was paramount 
throughout the East, where Pergamus and Egypt were her 



430 KOME. [book v. 

dependents, and Syria existed merely by her sufferance. In 
B.C. 264, she had just reached a position entitling her to 
cou^ among the " Great Powers " of the world, as it then 
was ; to rank, i. e., with Carthage, Macedonia, and Syria ; in 
B.C. 134, she had absorbed two of these " Great Powers," and 
made the third a dependency. She was clearly the sole 
"Great Power" left; or, if there was a second, it was the 
newly-formed empire beyond the Euphrates — that of the 
Parthians — which rose up as Syria declined, and which ulti- 
mately remained the only counterpoise to the Roman state 
through the whole period of its greatness. 

2. The circumstances of the struggle with Pyrrhus, and 
the Southern Italians, had forced Rome to become to some 
Commence- extent a maritime power. As she gradually mas- 
MiT^beKeu t^^'^^ Italy, it became necessary to protect her 
lime and coasts, exposed as they were to attack from Epi- 

rus, from Sicily, from Carthage, even from Greece, 
as experience showed. Accordingly, a fleet began to be 
formed as early as b-c. 338, which received constant addi- 
tions, and had by the year b.c. 267 acquired such importance 
that four "quaestors of the fleet" {qumstores classici) w^ere 
then appointed, and stationed at different pDrts of Italy, with 
the special object of guarding the coasts and keeping the 
marine in an eflicient condition. But this new tendency on 
the part of the great Italian state could not fail to provoke 
the jealousy of the chief maritime power of the Western 
Mediterranean, Carthage, whose policy it had always been to 
oppose the establishment of any naval rival in the waters 
which she regarded as her own. 'Thus, unfriendly feelings, 
arising out of a consciousness of clashing interests, had for 
some time been growing up between Carthage and Rome. 
Temporarily suspended during the height of the Pyrrhic 
War, when a common danger for a w^hile drew the two 
states together, they burst out at its close in greater force 
than ever; and nothing was needed but a decent pretext, in 
order that the two lukewarm allies should become open and 
avowed enemies. 

3. The pretext was not long wanting. The Mamertines, a 
First Punic ^^dy of Campanian mercenaries who had seized 
War, B.n. 2G4 Mcssaua, beiuG^ threatened with destruction by the 

-241. . . 

combined Carthaginians and Syracusans, applied 



PART I., PER. IV.] FIRST PUNIC WAR. 



431 



for help to Rome, and were readily received into her alliance. 
Rome invaded Sicily, and by an act of treachery made her- 
self mistress of the disputed post. War with Carthagp nec- 
essarily followed, a war for the possession of Sicily, and for 
maritime supremacy in the Mediterranean. The most re- 
markable feature of the war was the rapid development of 
the Roman naval power during its course— a development 
which is without a parallel in the history of the world. 
With few and insignificant exceptions, the Romans were 
landsmen till b.c. 262. In that year they began to form a 
powerful fleet. Only two years later, b.c. 260, they com- 
pletely defeated, under Duilius, the whole naval force of the 
Carthaginians ; and the supremacy thus acquired they suc- 
ceeded in maintaining by the later victories of Regulus and 
Lutatius. Their victories by sea emboldened them to send 
an army across to Africa, and to attack their enemy in his 
own country. Success at first attended the eiforts of Regu- 
lus ; but after a little while he was involved in difficulties, 
and his entire army was either slain or captured. But not- 
withstanding this and numerous other disasters, the indomi- 
table spirit of the Romans prevailed. After twenty-three 
years of perpetual warfare, Carthage felt herself exhausted, 
and sued for peace. The terms which she obtained required 
her to evacuate Sicily and the adjacent islands, to pay to 
Rome a war contribution of 2200 talents, to acknowledge 
the independence of Hiero, king of Syracuse, and bind her- 
self not to make war on him or his allies. 

' Details of the War. Invasion of Sicily by the Romans, b.c. 264:. ' 
Occupation of Messana. The Carthaginians and Hiero attempt its recovery, 
but fail. Hiero deserts the Carthaginian side and becomes an ally of Rome, 
B.C. 263. His example is followed by the Greek towns generally. The Ro- 
mans besiege Agrigentum, which is defended by Hannibal, son of Gisgo, b.c. 
262. Attempt to raise the siege fails, and Agrigentum falls. First efforts of 
Rome to construct a powerful fleet. Fleet of 120 sail launched, b.c. 260. 
Victoiy of Duilius at Mylas, due to the invention of boarding bridges. Cor- 
sica attacked, b.c. 259. Aleria taken. Indecisive combat off Cape Tynda- 
ris, B.C. 257. Great victoiy of Ecnomus, b.c. 256, and invasion of Africa by 
M. Atilius Regulus, who is successful at first, but in b.c. 255 suffers a com- 
plete defeat, and falls into the enemy's hands. The Romans evacuate Afri- 
ca. Destruction of their fleet by storms. Great despondency at Rome, b.c. 
253. The war confined to Sicily, where Thermse is taken, b.c. 252, and 
Eiyx, B.C. 249. Lilybasum, however, and Drepana still hold out; and in an 
attempt to take the latter, b.c 249, the Roman fleet is completely destroyed. 



432 ROME. [book v. 

Six years of petty warfare follow, B.C. 248 to b.c. 242, the advantage remain- 
ing on the whole with the Carthaginians, who, under Hamilear Barea, recov- 
er some of their lost ground in Sicily, and at the same time infest the Roman 
coasts^vith their privateers. At last, however, in b.c. 241, Rome once more 
makes a great effort. A number of the citizens from their private resources 
build and man a fleet of 200 sail, which they present to the nation ; and with 
tliis fleet the consul, C. Lutatius, gains a great victory at the Agates Insulte, 
which completely breaks the spirit of the Carthaginians, and induces them to 
consent to a peace on the terms above mentioned. 

4. The great importance of this war was, that it forced 
Kome to become a first-rarte naval power. Though the Ro- 
iraportanceof nians did not during its course obtain the com- 
tiie war. plete mastcry of the sea, they showed themselves 
fully a match for the Carthaginians on the element of which 
they had scarcely any previous experience. Their land force 
being much superior to that of Carthage, and their resources 
not greatly inferior, it became tolerably apparent that suc- 
cess would ultimately rest with them. Their chief deficiency 
was in generalship, wherein their commanders were decided- 
ly surpassed, not only by the Carthaginian patriot Hamil- 
ear, but even the mercenary Xanthippus. Here the Roman 
system was principally to blame, whereby the commanders 
were changed annually, and the same person was expected 
to be able to command equally well both by land and by 
sea. Carthage continued her commanders in office, and had 
separate ones for the land and the sea service. Even Car- 
thage, however, was unwise enough to deprive herself of the 
services of many an experienced captain by the barbarous 
practice of putting to death any general or admiral who ex- 
perienced a reverse. 

5. An interval of twenty-three years separated the First 
from the Second Punic War. It was employed by both 
Farther prog- sidcs in energetic efforts to consolidate and ex- 

ress of Roi 
Seizure of 
Sardinia 

placed by the revolt of her mercenaries, made 
herself mistress of the island of Sardinia, and when, upon the 
submission of the mercenaries, Carthage required its restora- 
tion, played the part of the wolf in the fable, declared her- 
self injured by her victim, and threatened a renewal of the 
war. Exhausted Carthage had to purchase her forbearance 
by the cession of the island, and tlie payment of a fine 



ressofRome. t^nd their power. Rome, in b.c. 238, taking ad- 
Sardiniaand vantage of the positiou in which Carthage was 



VAKT I., PKK. IV.] WAR WITH THE BOIL 433 

amounting to 1200 talents, B.C. 237. Rome then proceeded 
to annex Corsica; and soon afterwards (b.c. 227) she laid 
the foundation of her provincial system by the establish- 
ment of her first " Proconsuls," one to administer her posses- 
sions in Sicily, the other to govern Sardinia and Corsica. 

Chief Points of the Provincial System of Rome, The Proconsul 
unites in his o^vn person the supreme military and civil functions. He is at 
once commander-in-chief, governor, and supreme judge. The revenue, how- 
ever, is administered by quaestors responsible to the Senate. Native authori- 
ties are to a great extent tolerated ; and different degrees of privilege are 
conferred on different portions of a province. No regular contingent of 
troops is required : but in lieu of this burden, one-tenth of the produce of 
the whole land is claimed by Rome as hers, and a tax of 5 per cent, is levied 
on all imports and exports. 

6. About the same time that she seized Sardinia, Rome 
was engaged in a Avar with the Boii (Gauls) and Ligures in 

•.u ^^ North Italy, in which the Boii are said to have 

War with the , ^ -rx r> t - 1 ■ 

Boii, B.0. 238- been the a2:2fressors. Unsuccessiul m their at- 
tempts during the campaigns of b.c. 238 and 237, 
these barbarians, in b.c. 236, invited the aid of their kindred 
tribes from beyond the Alps ; but the allies after a little 
wdiile fell out, and the Boii and Ligures were glad to buy 
peace of Rome by the cession of some of their lands. 

7. Rome, soon afterwards, showed herself for the first 
time on the eastern coast of the Adriatic, and took part in 
Suppression *^^® affairs of Greece. The decay of Grecian pow- 
of iiiyrian pi- er had allowed the piratical dispositions of the II- 

racy. Locl.j?- , • ^ , r- -f ^i r 

ment effected lyrians to have tree course ; and the commerce of 
the Adriatic, the coasts of Epirus and Corcyra^ 
and perhaps even that of Italy to some extent, suffered from 
the constant attacks of Iiiyrian cruisers. Entreated to pro- 
tect them by the unhappy Greek cities, the Romans, in b.c. 
230, sent an embassy to Scodra, to require the cessation of 
the piracies. Their ambassadors were murdered ; and a war 
necessarily followed. Rome, in b.c. 229, with a fleet of 200 
ships, cleared the Adriatic, made the lUyrians of Scodra trib- 
utary, established Demetrius of Pharos as dependent dynast 
over the coasts and islands of Dalmatia, and accepted the 
protectorate of the Greeks of Apollonia, Epidamnus, and 
Corcyra. In return the Greeks acknowledged the Romans 
as their kin, an(i admitted them to participation in the Isth- 
mian games and the Eleusinian mysteries. Thus Rome ob- 

19 



431 ROME. [book v, 

tained a hold upon the opposite side of the Adriatic, and a 
right of interference in the affairs of Greece. 

8. A still more important war soon followed. Rome, be- 
fore engaging in any further enterprises beyond the limits 
Conquest of of Italy, was anxious to extend her dominion to 
Gmf/,^i"o. 225 ^^^ natural boundary upon the north, the great 
-222. chain of the Alps which shuts off Italy from the 
rest of Europe. With this view, she proceeded, about b.c. 
232, to make large assignments of land, and plant new and 
important colonies, in the territory of the Senones, thus aug- 
menting her strength towards the north and preparing for 
a great contest with the Gauls. These last, finding them- 
selves threatened, at once flew to arms. Obtaining aid 
from their kindred tribes in and beyond the Alps, they 
crossed the Apennines in b.c. 225, and spread themselves far 
and wide over Etruria, advancing as far as Clusium, and 
threatening Rome as in the days of Brennus. Three armies 
took the field against them, and though one, composed of 
Etruscans, was completely defeated, the two others, combin- 
ing their attack, gained a great victory over the invaders 
near Telamon, and forced them to evacuate Etruria. Rome 
then carried the war into the plain of the Po. Having allied 
herself with the Veneti, and even with the Gallic tribe ad- 
joining them, the Cenomani, she was able in a little time to 
reduce the whole tract to subjection. The Boii and Lin- 
gones submitted in b.c. 224 ; the Anari in b.c. 223 ; the Insu- 
bres were conquered after a fierce struggle, which occupied 
the years b.c. 223 and 222. Mediolanum and Comum, the 
last towns which held out, submitted in the last-named 
year, and Roman dominion was at length extended to the 
great barrier of the Alps. 

To establish herself firmly in the valuable tract thus conquered, Rome 
planted it thickly with colonies. Of these the most important Avere Placentia 
(Piacenza), Cremona, and Mutina (Modena) ; to which were added after- 
wards Parma, Mediolanum, Brixia, Comum, Verona, and Mantua. The 
newly-conquered tract was at the same time attached to the capital by the 
"Flaminian Way," which was carried to Narnia about B.C. 300, to Spole- 
tium in B.C. 240, and to Ariminium in B.C. 220. 

9. These conquests were scarcely effected when fresh 
troubles broke out in Illyria. Demetrius, of Pharos, dis- 
satisfied with the position accorded him by the Romans, de- 



PART I., PER. IV.] CONQUEST OF CISALPINE GAUL. 435 

War with De- clared liimself independent, attacked the Roman 
Fharo^s! 2.^c. allies, and encouraged the Illyrians to resume 
21^- the practice of piracy. Allied with Antigonus 

Doson (see p. 299), he thought himself strong enough to 
defy the Roman power. But Antigonus dying, b.c. 220, and 
Philip, his successor, being a mere boy, a Roman army, in 
B.C. 219, chastised Demetrius, destroyed his capital, and drove 
him from his kingdom. 

10. It was ill-judged in Rome to allow this petty quarrel 
to draw her attention to the East, when in the West an ene- 
Growthofthe ^^ ^^^ arisen, against whom her utmost efforts 
carthagiuiau were now needed. From the moment that Car- 

power lu. 

Spain, B.C. thagc Avas not only robbed of Sardinia, but forced 

23G-220. ^ * £ i> / • XT. 

to pay a line lor having ventured to remonstrate 
against the wrong done her, the determination to resume 
the struggle with Rome at the first convenient opportunity 
became a fixed national sentiment. There w^as indeed a 
peace party in the Punic community; but it had little 
weight or force. The advocates of war, who had found 
their fitting leaders in the warriors of the Barcine family — 
Hamilcar, his sons, and son-in-law — were all-powerful in the 
government ; and under them it became and remained the 
one sole object of Carthage to bring herself into a position 
in which she could hope to renew her contest with her hated 
antagonist on such terms as might promise her a fair pros- 
pect of success. Xo sooner was the revolt of the mercena- 
ries put down (b.c. 237) by the judicious efforts of Hamilcar 
Barca, than the project was formed of obtaining in Spain a 
compensation, and more than a compensation, for all that 
had been lost in Sicily, Sardinia, and the lesser islands. 
Hamilcar, in the last nine years of his life, b.c. 236 to 228, 
established the Carthaginian power over the whole of South- 
ern and South-eastern Spain, the fairest portion of the penin- 
sula. His work was carried on and completed in the course 
of the next eight years, b.c. 227 to 220, by his son-in-law, 
Hasdrubal. Andalusia, Murcia, and Valencia were occu- 
pied. A warlike population, Ibeiic and Celtic, was reduced 
and trained to arms under Carthaginian oflicers. Towns 
were built ; trade prospered ; agriculture flourished. Above 
all, the rich silver-mines near Carthagena (Carthago Nova) 
were discovered and skillfully worked; Spain more than 



436 ROME. [book v. 

paid her expenses ; and the home-treasury was amply pro- 
vided with those "sinews of war ".without which a sustain- 
ed military effort is impossible. 

11. The indifference with which Rome saw this extension 
of the Carthaginian power is very surprising. She did in- 
passive atti- deed make alliance with the semi-Greek commu- 
tudeofRome. j^i^ies of Saguntum (Zacynthus) and Emporise 
about B.C. 226, and at the same time obtained a promise from 
Hasdrubal that he would not push his conquests beyond the 
Ebro; but otherwise she appeared unobservant or careless 
of her rival's acquisitions. Probably she thought that the 
designs of Carthage were in the main commercial, and re- 
garded an invasion of Italy from the side of Spain as simply 
an impossibility. Perhaps she thought her enemy's strength 
so much reduced, and her own so much increased, as to ren- 
der it inconceivable that the struggle should ever be renew- 
ed, unless she chose at her own time to force a contest. As 
she remained mistress of the sea, and Carthage did not even 
make any effort to dispute her maritime supremacy, it seem- 
ed difficult for her rival to attack her in any quarter, while 
it was easy for her to carry the war into any portion of the 
Carthaginian territory. 

12. But Hannibal, sworn from his boyhood to eternal ha- 
tred of Rome, had determined, as soon as he succeeded to 
Plans of Han- ^^^^ Command (b.c. 220), on the mode and route 
nibai. })j -^yhich he would seek to give vent to his en- 
mity, to save his own nation and at the same time destroy 
her foe. Fully appreciating the weakness of Carthage for 
defense, it was his scheme to carry the war without a mo- 
ment's unnecessary delay into the enemy's country, to give 
the Romans ample employment there, and see if he could not 
exhaust their resources and shatter their confederacy. The 
land route from Spain to Italy had for him no terrors. He 
could count on the good dispositions of most of the Celtic 
tribes, who looked on him as the destined deliverer of Cisal- 
pine Gaul from the iron gripe of Rome. He probably knew 
but little of the dangers and difficulties of crossing the Alps ; 
but he was well aware that they had been often crossed by 
the Gauls, and that he would find in the Alpine valleys an 
ample supply of friendly and experienced guides. Arrived 
in Cisalpine Gaul, he would have the whole population with 



PART I., PER. IV.] SECOND PUNIC WAR. 437 

him, and he would be able, after due consideration, to deter- 
mine on his further course. With the veteran army which 
he brought from Spain, and with his own strategic ability, 
he trusted to defeat any force that Rome could bring into 
the field against him. For ultimate success he depended on 
his power of loosening the ties which bound the Italic con- 
federacy together, of raising up enemies to Rome in Italy it- 
self, and at the same time of maintaining his army in such 
efficiency that it might be distinctly recognized as master 
of the open field, incapable of being resisted unless behind 
walls, or by defensive guerrilla warfare. With these views 
and objects, Hannibal, in b.c. 219, commenced the Second 
Punic War by laying siege to Saguntum. 

1 3. The issue of the Second Punic War was determined 

by the dauntless resolution and the internal vigor of Rome. 

^ „ . She had opposed to her the most consummate 

Second Pnnic / ^ . . , -, 

War: its gen- general of antiquity; a state as populous and 
richer in resources than her own; a veteran 
army ; a possible combination of various powerful allies ; 
above all, an amount of disafiection among her OAvn subjects, 
the extent of which could not be estimated beforehand, but 
which was at any rate sure to be considerable. Three bat- 
tles showed that Hannibal was irresistible in the field, and 
taught the Romans to avoid general engagements. The 
third was followed by a wide-spread defection of the Roman 
subject-allies — all Italy from Samnium and Campania south- 
ward passed over to the side of Hannibal. But the rest of* 
the federation stood firm. Not a Latin deserted to the ene- 
my. Central Italy from sea to sea held to Rome. She had 
the resources of Etruria, Umbria, Picenum, Sabina, Latium, 
to draw upon, besides her own. By immense efibrts, includ- 
ing the contraction of a large National Debt, she contrived 
to maintain her ground, and gradually to reduce Hannibal 
to the defensive. The alliances, by which Plannibal sought 
to better his position, with Syracuse, b.c. 215, and with Phil- 
ip of Macedon, b.c. 216, did him scant service, Rome in each 
case meeting the new enemy on his own ground, and there 
keeping him fully employed. The hopes of a successful is- 
sue to Carthage then rested upon the junction -of the second 
army of Spain, under Hasdrubal, with the reduced force of 
Hannibal in Italy, a junction frustrated by the battle of the 



438 KOME. [book v. 

Metaurus, which was thus the turning-point of the war. Af- 
ter this reverse, the transfer of the war into Africa was a 
matter of course ; and this transfer rendered necessary the 
recall of Hannibal from Italy and the relinquishment of all 
the great hopes which his glorious enterprise had excited. 
There remained just a possibility that in a last pitched bat- 
tle on his native soil, Hannibal's genius might re-establish 
the superiority of the Carthaginian arms. But the battle of 
Zama removed this final chance. Hannibal met in Scipio 
Africanus a general, not indeed his equal, but far superior to 
any of those with whom he had been previously engaged ; 
and, his troops being mostly of inferior quality, he suffered, 
through no fault of his own, the great defeat which rendered 
further resistance impossible. Carthage, after Zama, became 
a dependent Roman ally. 

Details of the War. The Second Pnnic War may be divided into 
three periods — a first period of three years, from the fall of Saguntum to 
Camiffi, a period of uninterrupted Carthaginian victory, b.c. 218 to 216; a 
second period of nine years, from Cannse to the battle of the Metaurus, a 
time of alternate victory and reverse, during which there was still a good, 
hope that the great enterprise of the Carthaginian general might be crowned 
with ultimate success, b.c. 215 to 207; and a third period of six years, a 
time of constant Eoman advance and progress, when the termination of the 
war in favor of Rome was certain, and the only question was how long re- 
sistance could be protracted, b.c. 20G to 201. 

First Period, b.c. 218 to 216. — b.c. 218. Passage of the Pyrenees, and 
the Rhone. Encounter with the army of P. Cornelius Scipio on the left 
*bank of the river. March to the Alps, and passage of the great chain, prob- 
ably by the Little St. Bernard, in the month of September. Capture of Tu- 
rin. The Ligurians, and the Celts genei'ally, declare for Hannibal. Scipio 
defeated in a cavalry engagement on the Ticino. Great battle of the Trebia 
in the same year (December) makes Hannibal master of the whole of North- 
ern Italy. — B.C. 217. Passage of the Apennines, and march through the 
marshes of Northern Etruria. Hannibal loses an eye. Great victory on the 
shores of Lake Trasimene. Alarm at Rome. Q. Fabius Maximus made 
dictator. A siege expected. Hannibal marches through Umbria into Pi- 
cenum, where he rests and reorganizes his army. He then proceeds along 
the coast into Southern Italy, hoping to produce insuiTCction among the Ro- 
man allies, who, however, remain faithful. The dictator, Fabius (Cunctator), 
keeps an army in the field, but avoids an engagement. Hannibal winters in 
Apulia. — B.C. 216. Great effort made by Rome to crush the invader termi- 
nates in the terrible disaster of Cannai, where Rome loses from 70,000 to 
80,000 men. Accession of Philip of Macedon and of Syracuse to the Car- 
thaginian alliance. General defection of the Southern Italians, and especially 
of Capua. Noble attitude of Rome in her hour of greatest danger. Resolve 



PART 1., TEii. IV.] bECOND PUNIC WAR. 43D 

to continue the war and, while maintaining the struggle both in Spain and 
Italy, to attack Macedonia and Syracuse. 

The question of the pass by •which Hannibal crossed the Alps has been a 
matter of much controversy, and can scarcely be said even now to be set- 
tled ; but the weight of modern authority is decidedly in favor of the Little 
St. Bernard. The chief works on the subject are : 

Whitaker, Hex. J., The Course of Hannibal over the Alps ascertained. 
London, 1794 ; 2 vols. 8vo- This writer argues in favor of the Great St. 
Bernard. 

Cramer (Dean) and Wickham, G.L., Dissertation on the Passage of 
Hannibal over the Alps. Oxford, 1820 ; 8vo. 

Long, H. L., The March of Hannibal from the Rhone to the Alps. Lon- 
don, 1831; 8vo. 

Ellis, Rev. R., A Treatise on HannihaTs Passage of the Alps, in ivhich 
his route is traced over the Little Mt. Cenis. Cambridge, 1854. And the 
same writer's Inquiry into the Ancient Routes between Italy and Gaul ; with 
an JExarnination of the Theory of Hannibal's Passage of the Alps by the Lit- 
tle St. Bernard. Cambridge, 1867 ; 8vo. 

Law, W. J., The Alps of Hannibal. London, 1866 ; 8vo. 

Second Period, b.c. 215 to 207. The Second period of the war is de- 
void of any great battles, until the one with which it closes, and is (compar- 
atively speaking) uninteresting. Hannibal, having to protect the Southern 
Italians, who have come over to him, is reduced to the defensive. As he 
can not detach the Latins, or the Northern Italians, from the Roman con- 
federacy, he needs some great accession of force in order to bring the war to 
a successful issue. For such an accession he long continues to hope ; but it 
never arrives. Philip of Macedon is kept employed in lUyricum and Greece 
from B.C. 214 to 207, when peace is made with him. (See p. 305.) Syra- 
cuse is besieged by Marcelhis, b.c. 214, and taken, b.c. 212. Hasdrubal is 
detained in Spain year after year, first by the brothers Cn. and P. Cornelius 
Scipio, and then by the young Publius (afterwards known as Africanus), until 
B.C. 208, when, at the sacrifice of a portion of his army, he makes his way to 
the northward, crosses the Pyrenees, and, wintering in Gaul, proceeds the 
next spring by the route which his brother had followed, across the Alps, 
into Italy. The Gauls and Ligurians join him. Etruria and Umbria waver 
in their allegiance. Rome seems to be brought into greater danger than 
ever. But once more her constancy and courage assert themselves. Every 
man capable of bearing arms is called out to fight. Twenty-three legions 
are enrolled. Above all, by a masterly manoeuvre, the consul, Claudius Nero, 
deceives Hannibal, and marching away to the north with half his army, con- 
centrates the great bulk of the Roman strength against Hasdrubal, and crush- 
es him on the Metaurus, before he can effect a junction with his long-expect- 
ant brother, b.c. 207. With the defeat of Hasdrubal disappears the last ray 
of hope for Carthage, which has no further reserve that can be brought into 
play with any prospect of affecting the general issue. 

Third Period, b.c. 206 to 201. It is surprising that the Romans did 
not carry the war into Africa in the year following the battle of the Metau- 
rus. Nothing more was to be feared from Hannibal, who had retreated into 
the farther corner of Bruttium. Much less was the expedition of Mago to 



440 KG ME. [book v. 

North Italy, B.C. 205, a real danger. It would seem that the Senate hesi- 
tated owing to the want of any general of sufficient ability, who at the same 
time was sufficiently popular to call forth a national effort. Thus it was not 
till B.C. 204 that an expedition was actually sent into Africa, under the young 
Scipio, who had recently returned from Spain with a deservedly high reputa- 
tion. Scipio, having landed, besieged Utica, but was shortly driven back to 
the coast, and wintered on a promontory, where he intrenched himself. The 
next year, however, b.c. 203, he assumed an aggi-essive attitude; defeated 
the Carthaginian levies in two battles ; took Syphax prisoner ; and forced 
the Punic government, as a last resource, to recall Hannibal. That general 
arrived from Italy in b.c. 202, and after a vain attempt at negotiation, made 
a last effort to turn the scale in favor of his country at the battle of Zama, 
where, however, he suffered defeat, though a defeat without dishonor. Ne- 
gotiations were then renewed, and a peace was concluded (b.c. 201) on the 
terms which follow: — (1) The relinquishment by Carthage of all her terri- 
tory beyond the limits of Africa ; (2) an engagement on her part not to en- 
gage in war out of Africa, nor even in Africa without permission from the 
Romans ; (3) the payment to Rome of an annual contribution of 200 talents 
(£48,800) for the next fifty years; (4) the surrender of all their ships ex- 
cept ten, and all their elephants ; and (5) the restoration to Masinissa of all 
that had belonged to himself or to his ancestors. These terms were, on the 
whole, moderate and fair under the circumstances ; and it is creditable to 
Scipio that he had the clemency to propose, and to Hannibal that he had the 
wisdom to accept, them. 

The History of the Hnnnibalic, or Second Punic War, has been particu- 
larly well written by Dr. Arnold. See his History of Rome, vol. iii., pp. 63 
to 455. 

14. The gains of Rome by the Second Punic War were, 
in the first place, the complete removal of Carthage from the 
Gains of Rome position of a counterpoisc and rival to that of a 
by the war. gjnall dependent community, powerless for good 
or evil ; secondly, the addition to the Roman land dominion 
of the greater part of Spain, which was formed into two 
provinces, Citerior and Ulterior ; thirdly, the absorption of 
the previously independent state of Syracuse into the Ro- 
man province of Sicily ; fourthly, the setting up of a Roman 
protectorate over the native African tribes ; and fifthly, the 
full and complete establishment of Roman maritime suprem- 
acy over the -whole of the Western Mediterranean. The w^ar 
further tended to the greater consolidation of the Roman 
power in Italy. It crushed the last reasonable hopes of the 
Ligurians and Gauls in the north. It riveted their fetters 
more firmly than ever on the non-Latin races of the centre 
and the south, the Umbrians, Etruscans, Sabines, Picentians, 
Apulians, Bruttians. Throughout Italy large tracts of land 



PART I., PER. IV.] PROGRESS OF ROME. 44I 

were confiscated by the sovereign state ; and fresh colonies 
of Romans and Latins were sent out. In Campania and the 
southern Picenum, the whole soil was declared forfeit. The 
repulse of Hannibal involved a second subjugation of Italy, 
more complete and more harsh than the first. Everywhere, 
except in Latium, the native races were depressed, and a Lat- 
in dominion was established over the length and breadth of 
tlie hind. 

Note the strengthening of old and the foundation of new colonies at this 
penod :— Venusia strengthened in b.c. 200, Narnia in b.c. 199, Cosa in u.c. 
197 ; Sipontum, Thurii (Copia), Croton, Salernum, and Puteoli, established 
in B.C. 194 ; Vibo (Valentia) in b.c. 192. In many places, moreover, where 
no town was built or occupied, the veterans were established on the confisca- 
ted lands as coloni. 

15. Another result of the Hannibalic War, which com- 
pleted the subjugation of the Western Mediterranean basin. 
Collision has- was to hasten the collision between the aggres- 
Rome^aurthe ^ivc Republic and the East, which had long been 
East. evidently impending. Already, as early as b.c. 

273, Rome had entered into friendly relations with Egypt, 
and even before this she had made a commercial treaty with 
Rhodes (see p. 307). About b.c. 245, she had offered to King 
Ptolemy Euergetes a contingent for his Syrian War (see p. 
272) ; and soon afterwards she interceded with Seleucus Cal- 
linicus on behalf of the Ilians, her " kindred." Her wars 
with the Illyrian j^irates, b.c. 229 to 219, had brought her 
into contact with the states of Greece, more particularly 
with the ^tolians (see § 7) ; and finally, the alliance of 
Philip, king of Macedon, with Hannibal, had forced her to 
send a fleet and army across the Adriatic, and had closely 
connected her with Elis, with Sparta, and even Avith the 
Asiatic kingdom of Pergamus (see pp. 304, '5). Circumstan- 
ces had thus drawn her on, without any distinctly ambitious 
designs on her part, to an interference in the affairs of the 
East— an interference which, in the existing condition of the 
Oriental world, could not but have the most momentous con- 
sequences. For throughout the East, since the time of Al- 
exander, all things had tended to corruption and decay. In 
Greece, the spirit of patriotism, feebly kept alive in the hearts 
of a select few, such as Aratus and Philopoemen, was on the 
point of expiring. Intestine division made the very name 

19* 



442 EOME. [book v. 

of Hellas a mockery, and pointed her out as a ready prey to 
any invader. In Macedonia luxury had made vast strides ; 
military discipline and training had been neglected ; loyalty 
had altogether ceased to exist ; little remained but the in- 
heritance of a great name and of a system of tactics which 
Avas of small value, except under the animating influence of 
a good general. The condition of the other Alexandrine 
monarchies was even worse. In Syria and in Egypt, while 
the barbarian element had been raised but slightly abo\e 
its natural level by Hellenic influence, the Hellenic had suf- 
fered greatly by its contact with lower types of humanity. 
Tiie royal races, Seleucids and Ptolemies, were effete and de- 
generate; the armed force that they could bring into the 
field might be numerous, but it was contemptible ; and a 
general of even moderate abilities was a rarity. It was only 
among the purely Asiatic monarchies of the more remote 
East that any rival, really capable of coping with Rome, was 
now likely to show itself. The Macedonian system had lived 
out its day, and was ready to give place to the young, vig- 
orous, and boldly aggressive power Avhich had arisen in the 
West. 

16. The conclusion of peace with Carthage was followed 

rapidly by an attack on Macedonia, for which the conduct 

--,, of Philip had furnished only too many pretexts. 

Second Mace- . . ^ -^ . •' * 

doiiiaii War, Philip had probably lent aid to Carthao'e in 

li o 200-197 L L J o 

her final struggle : he had certainly without any 
]n'ovocation commenced an aggressive war against Rome's 
ancient ally, Egypt, and he had plunged also into hostilities 
with Attains and the Rhodians, both of whom were among 
the friends of Rome, the former being protected by a treaty 
(see p. 306). Rome was bound in honor to aid her allies ; 
and no blame can attach to her for commencing the Second 
Macedonian War in b.c. 200, and dispatching her troops 
across the Adriatic. Her conduct of the war was at first 
altogether mediocre ; but from the time that T. Quinctius 
Flamininus took the command (b.c. 198) it was simply ad- 
mirable, and deserved the success which attended it. The 
proclamation of general liberty to the Grecian states, while 
it could not fail of being popular, and was thus e:j«;ellently 
adapted to deprive Philip of his Hellenic allies, and to rally 
to the Roman cause the whole power of Hellas, involved no 



PART I., PER. IV.] SECOND MACEDONIAN WAR. 443 

danger to Roman interests, which were perfectly safe under 
a system that established universal disunion. The gift of 
liberty to the Greeks by Rome in b.c. 198, is parallel to the 
similar gift of universal autonomy to the same people by 
Sparta and Persia in b.c. 387 (see p. 214) at the "Peace of 
Antalcidas." On both occasions, the idea under which the 
freedom was conceded was that expressed by the maxim 
"Divide et impera." The idea was not indeed now carried 
out to an extreme length. There was no dissolution of the 
leagues of Achaea, ^tolia, or Boeotia. These leagues Avere 
in fact too small to be formidable to such a power as Rome. 
And as they had embraced the Roman side during the con- 
tinuance of the war, their dissolution could scarcely be in- 
sisted on. Thessaly however was, even at this time, in pur- 
suance of the policy of separation, split up into four govern- 
ments. 

For the details of the Second Macedonian War, and for the terms on which 
peace was concluded, see pp. 307, '8. 

17. The battle of Cynoscephalse, by which the Second 
Macedonian War was terminated, deserves a place among 
Battle of c n- ^^^^ "Decisive Battles of the World." The rela- 
oscephaipe,its tivc streni^th of the " legion " and the " phalanx " 

importaiice. i <^ 1 r» ""• • i ■^ 

was then lor the nrst time tried upon a grand 
scale ; and the superiority of the " legion " was asserted. 
No doubt, man for man, the Roman soldiers were better 
than the Macedonian ; but it was not this superiority which 
gained the day. The phalanx, as an organization, Avas clum- 
sy and unwieldy ; the legion was light, elastic, adapted to 
every variety of circumstances. The strength and Aveakness 
of the phalanx Avere never better shoAvn than at Cynosceph- 
alse ; and its weakness — its inability to form quickly, to main- 
tain its order on uneven ground, or to change front — lost the 
battle. The loss Avas complete, and irremediable. Macedo- 
nia was vanquished, And Rome became thenceforth the arbi- 
tress of the Avorld. 

18. While her arms Avere thus triumphant in the East, 
Rome Avas also gaining additional strength in the West. In 
War with the ^^^^ vcry year of the conclusion of peace with Car- 
Boii aiKiiu- thao^c, B.C. 201, shc recommenced hostilities in the 

snores, u.o. ^ ' ' 

201-191. plain of the Po, where the Gauls had ever sincp 

the invasion of Hannibal defied the Roman authority and 



444 KOME. [book v. 

maintained their independence. It was necessary to recon- 
quer this important tract. Accordingly, from b.c. 201 to 191 , 
the Romans were engaged in a prolonged Gallic War in this 
district, in which, though ultimately successful, they suffered 
many reverses. Their garrisons at Placentia and Cremona 
were completely destroyed and swept away. More than one 
pitched battle was lost. It was only by energetic and re- 
peated efforts, and by skillfully fomenting the divisions 
among the tribes, that Rome once more established her do- 
minion over this fair and fertile region, forcing the Gauls to 
become her reluctant subjects. 

Details of the War, b.c. 201 to 191. Hostilities commence in the 
country of the Boii, who are assisted by the Carthaginian general, Hamilcar. 
The Romans are defeated, B.C. 201. Sack of Placentia, b.c. 200, and siege 
of Cremona. Hamilcar defeated near that city, Roman army defeated by 
the Insubres, b.c. 199. The Cenomani become allies of the Romans and 
help them to defeat the Insubres on the Mincius, b.c. 197. Fall of Comum, 
B.C. 19G. Peace made witli the Insubres. War continues with the Boii, 
B.C. 195 to 191. Great Roman victory of Mutina, b.c 193. Submission of 
the Boii, who cede one-half of their territory, B.C. 191. 

19. The conquest of Gallia Cisalpina was followed by a 
fresh arrangement of the territory. The line of the Po was 
Result of the taken as that which sliould bound the strictly Ro- 
'^^'^^■- man possessions, and while " Gallia Transpada- 
na" was relinquished to the native tribes, with the excep- 
tion of certain strategic points, such as Cremona and Aqui- 
leia, " Gallia Cispadana " was incorporated absolutely 'into 
Italy. The colonies of Placentia and Cremona Avere re-es- 
tablished and reorganized. New foundations Avere made at 
Bononia (Bologna), Mutina (Modena), and Parma in the Boi- 
an country. The ^milian Way was carried on (b.c. 187) 
from Ariminum to Placentia. The Boians atid Lingones 
were rapidly and successfully Latinized. Beyond the Po, 
the Gallic communities, though allowed to retain their exist- 
ence and their native governments, and even excused from 
the payment of any tribute to their conquerors, were regard- 
ed as dependent upon Rome, and were especially required to 
check the incursions of the Alpine or Transalpine Celts, and 
to allow no fresh immigrants to settle on the southern side 
of the mountain-chain. 

20. Meanwhile, in the East, tho defeat of Philip, the with- 
drawal of the Romans, and the restoration of the Greeks to 



PART I., PEK. IV.] WAR WITH ANTIOCHUS. 445 

Unsettled fi'eeclom, had been far from producing tranquilli- 
stateofGreece ty. The ^tolian robber-community was dissat- 
isfied with the awards of Flamininus, and hoped, 
in the scramble that might follow a new war, to gain an in- 
crease of territory. Antiochiis of Syria was encouraged by 
the weakness of Macedon to extend his dominions in Asia 
Minor, and even to effect a lodgment in Europe, proceedings 
Avhich Rome could scarcely look upon with indifference. 
War broke out in Greece in the very year that Flamininus 
quitted it, b.c. 194, by the intrigues of the ^tolians, who 
were bent on creating a disturbance. At the same time, An- 
tiochus showed more and more that he did not fear to pro- 
voke the Romans, and was quite willing to measure his 
strength against theirs, if occasion offered. In b.c. 195 he 
received Hannibal at his court with special honors; and 
soon afterwards he entered into negotiations which had it 
for their object to unite Macedonia, Syria, and Carthage 
against the common foe. In b.c. 194 or 193 he contracted 
an alliance with the ^tolians; and finally, in b.c. 192, he 
proceeded with a force of 10,500 men from Asia into Greece. 
21. This movement of Antiochus had been foreseen by 
the Romans, who about the same time landed on the coast 
War of Rome of Epirus With a force of 25,000 men. War was 
withAutio- thus, practically, declared on both sides. The 

chusthe ^ ' ^- 1- 1 1 . T -, o , 

Great, 1J.0. 192 Struggle was, directly and immediately, for the 
protectorate of Greece ; indirectly and prospect- 
ively, for political ascendency. Antiochus " the Great," as 
he was called, the master of all Asia from the valley of the 
Indus to the -ZEgean, thought himself quite competent to 
meet and defeat the upstart power which had lately ven- 
tured to intermeddle in the affairs of the " Successors of Al- 
exander." Narrow-minded and ignorant, he despised his 
adversary, and took the field with a force absurdly small, 
which he could without difl^iculty have quadrupled. The 
natural result followed. Rome easily defeated him in a 
pitched battle, drove him across the sea, and following him 
rapidly into his own country, shattered his power, and es- 
Great victory tablishcd her own prestige in Asia, by the great 
of Magnesia, yictory of Magnesia, which placed the Syrian em- 
pire at her mercy. Most fortunate was it for Rome that the 
sceptre of Syria was at this time wielded by so weak a mon- 



446 ROME. [liooK v. 

arch. Had tlie occupant of the Seleucid throne possessed 
moderate capacity ; had he made a proper use of his oppor- 
tunities; had he given the genius of Hannibal, ^vhicli was 
placed at his disposal, full scope ; had he, by a frank and 
generous policy, attached Philip of Macedon to his side, the 
ambitious Republic might have been checked in mid-career, 
and have suffered a repulse from which there would have 
been no recovery for centuries. 

Details of the War avith Antiochus, b.c, 192 to 190. Antiocbus 
lands at Demetrias, B.C. 192, but witb only 10,000 foot, 500 borse, and six 
elepbants. He is made General-in-Cbief of the JEtolians. The Atbamani- 
ans, Chalcis in Euboea, Ebs, and Bceotia join bim. Epirus negotiates. 
Pbilip, offended at tbe encouragement given by Antiocbus to a pretender to 
tbe Macedonian crown, dechxres for tbe Romans. Tbe Romans, witb 40,000 
men, enter Tbessaly, u.c. 191, and advance southward. Antiocbus occupies 
Tbermopylje witb bis small force, and gives tbe guard of the path over tbe 
mountains to tbe ^tolians, who are easily dislodged, whereupon tbe whole 
army of Antiochus breaks up and flies in disorder. He himself returns to 
Asia and assumes an attitude of defense. His partisans in Greece are forced 
to submit either to Pbilip or to tbe Romans. At sea, bis fleet is defeated by 
tbe Romans near Cyprus, in Ionia. Struggle for tbe mastery of the ^gean 
between the Romans, Pergamenes, and Rhodians on the one band, and Anti- 
ocbus, assisted by Hannibal, on the other, B.C. 190. Contest decided by tbe 
defeat of Hannibal at Aspendus, and of Polyxenidas, the admiral of Antio- 
cbus, at Corycus. The Roman army, under the command of tbe two Scip- 
ios, lands in Asia. Attempt of Antiocbus to negotiate fails. Battle of Mag- 
nesia decides tbe war. Antiocbus cedes Asia Minor north of the Taurus, and 
consents to pay tbe sum of 12,000 talents (nearly £3,000,000 sterling). 

22. The " moderation " of Rome after the battle of Mag- 
nesia has been admired by many historians ; and it is cer- 
Eesnitsofthe tainly true that she did not acquire by her vic- 
victory. ^Qj.y ^ single inch of fresh territory, nor any di- 

rect advantage beyond the enrichment of the State treasury. 
But indirectly the advantages which she gained were con- 
siderable. She was able to reward her allies, Eumenes of 
Pergamus and the Rhodians, in such a way as to make it 
apparent to the whole East that the Roman alliance was 
highly profitable. She was able to establish, and she did 
establish, on the borders of Macedonia, a great and powerful 
state, a counterpoise to the only enemy which she now fear- 
ed in Europe. She was able to obtain a cheap renown by 
proclaiming once more the liberty of Greece, and insisting 
that the Greek cities of Asia Minor, or at any rate those 



PART I., i>EK. IV.] WAR WITH ANTIOCHUS. 447 

wliich had lent her a,id, should be recognized as free — a proc- 
lamation which cost her nothing, and whereby she secured 
lierself a body of friends on whose services she might here- 
after count in this quarter. That she was content with 
these gains, that she evacuated Asia Minor, as she had pre- 
viously evacuated Greece (see § 20), was probably owing to 
the fact that she was not as yet prepared to occupy, and 
maintain her dominion over, countries so far distant from 
Rome. She had found the difficulty of holding even Spain 
as a part of her empire, and was forced by the perpetual at- 
tacks of the unconquered. and revolts of the conquered na- 
tives to maintain there perpetually an army of 40,000 men. 
She had not yet made up her mind to annex even Greece ; 
much less, therefore, could she think of holding the remote 
Asia Minor. It was sufficient for her to have repulsed a 
foe who had ventured to advance to her doors, to have in- 
creased her reputation by two glorious campaigns and a 
great victory, and to have paved the way for a future occu- 
pation of Western Asia, if circumstances should ever render 
it politic. 

The chief benefit which Asia Minor derived from this premature entrance 
into it of the Roman arms was through the campaign of Cn. Manlius Volso 
(B.C. 189) against the Gauls or Gahitians. The losses inflicted on the two 
tribes of the Tolistoboii and the Tectosagi secured tranquillity to the neigh- 
boring nations for a long term of years. But the motive of Manlius seems to 
have been plunder, 

23. In Greece, the defeat of Antiochus was followed, nec- 
essarily, by the submission of the ^tolians, who were mulct- 
state of ed m large portions of their territory and made 
Greece. ^^ ^^j ^ hcavy fine. Rome annexed to her own 
dominions only Cephallenia and Zacynthus, distributing the 
rest among her allies, who, however, were very far from be- 
ing satisfied. The Achsean League and Philip were both 
equally displeased at the limits that were set to their ambi- 
tion, and were ready, should opportunity offer, to turn their 
arms against their recent ally. 

24. In the West, four wars continued to occupy a good 
deal of the Roman attention, {a) Spain was still far from 
WavsofRome subdued ; and the Roman forces in the country 
ill the West, were year after year engaged against the Lusita- 
ni or the Celtiberi, with very doubtful success, until about 



448 ROME. [book v. 

B.C. 181 to 178, when some decided advantages were gained. 
(b) In the mountainous Liguria the freedom-loving tribes 
showed the same spirit whicli has constantly been exhibited 
by mountaineers, as by the Swiss, the Circassians, and oth- 
ers. War raged in this region from b.c. 193 to 1*70 ; and the 
Roman domination over portions of the Western Apennines 
and the maritime Alps was only Avith the utmost difficulty 
established by the extirpation of the native races or their 
transplantation to distant regions. No attempt was made 
really to subjugate the entire territory. It was viewed as a 
training-school for the Roman soldiers and officers, standing 
to Rome very much as Circassia long stood to Russia, and as 
Algeria even now stands to France, (c) In Sardinia and 
(d) in Corsica perpetual wars, resembling slave-hunts, were 
waged with the native races of the interior, especially in the 
interval from b.c. 181 to 173. 

25. The discontent of Philip (see § 23) did not lead him to 
any rash or imprudent measures. He defended his interests, 
Relations of ^^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^^^ possiblc, by negotiations. When 
Roine with Rome insisted, he yielded. But all the while, he 

Macedou dnr- 'J ^ ' _ 

ing the last was nursinsf the stren^jth of Macedonia, recruit- 
years of Phil- . 
ip, B.C. 190- ins: her finances, increasing; the number of her al- 

1 79 • • • 

lies, making every possible prej^aration for a re- 
newal of the struggle, which had gone so much against him 
at Cynoscephalae. Rome suspected him, but had not tlie 
face to declare actual war against so recent an ally and so 
complaisant a subordinate. She contented herself with nar- 
rowing his dominions, strengthening Eumenes against him, 
and sowing dissensions in his family. Demetrius, his young- 
er son, who lived at Rome as a hostage, was encouraged to 
raise his thoughts to the throne, which he was given to un- 
derstand Rome would gladly see him occupy. Whether De- 
metrius Avas willing to become a " cat's-paw " is not appar- 
ent ; but the Roman intrigues on his behalf certainly brought 
about his death, and caused the reign of Philip to end in sor- 
row and remorse, b.c. 179. (See p. 310.) 

26. The accession of Perseus to the Macedonian throne 
was only so far a gain for Rome that he was less competent 
Position and than Philip to conduct a great enterprise. In 
SsfB^c.^179- ii^any respects the position of Macedonia was 
1^'^- bettered by the change of sovereigns. Perseus, 



PART I., I'liu. IV.] THIRD MACEDONIAN WAK. 449 

a young and brave prince, was popular, not only among big 
own subjects, but througliout Greece, where the national 
party had begun to see that independence was an impossi- 
ble dream, and that the choice really lay between subjection 
to the wdiolly foreign Romans and to the semi-Hellenic and 
now thoroughly hellenized Macedonians. Perseus, again, 
had no personal enemies. The kings of Syria and Egypt, 
who could not forgive his father the wrongs which they had 
suffered at his hands, had no quarrel with the present mon- 
arch; to whom the former (Seleucus IV.) readily gave his 
daughter in marriage. The design of Philip to re-establish 
Macedonia in a position of real independence was heartily 
adopted by his successor; and Rome learnt by every act of 
the new prince, that she had to expect shortly an outbreak 
of hostilities in this quarter. 

27. Yet, for a while, she procrastinated. Her wars with 
Liguria, Sardinia, and Corsica still gave her occupation in 
Third Mace- the Wcst, while a new enemy, the Istri, provoked 
c^miMcuSs ^y the establishment of her colony of Aquileia 
11,0. iTi. ^i> Q^ 183), caused her constant trouble and annoy- 
ance in the border land between Italy and Macedon,the Up- 
per Illyrian country. But, about b.c. 172, it became clear 
that further procrastination would be fatal to her interests 
— would, in fact, be equivalent to the withdrawal of all fur- 
ther interference with the affairs of Greece and the East. 
Perseus was becoming daily bolder and more powerful. His 
party among the Greeks was rapidly increasing. The ^to- 
lians called in his aid. The Boeotians made an alliance with 
him. Byzantium and Lampsacus placed themselves under 
his protection. Even the Rhodians paid him honor and ob- 
servance. If the protectorate of Greece was not to slip from 
the hands of Rome and to be resumed by Macedon, it was 
high time that Rome should take the field and vindicate her 
pretensions by force of arms. Accordingly, in the autumn 
of B.C. 172, an embassy was sent to Perseus, with demands 
wherewith it was impossible that he should comply; and 
when the envoys Avere abruptly dismissed, Avar Avas at once 
declared. 

For the details of the Third Macedonian War, and the causes of the ill 
success of Perseus, see Book IV., Period III., Part III. (pp. 311, 312). 

28. The victory of Pydna, gained by L. ^milius Paulina 



450 ROME. [book v. 

(June 22, b.c. 168), was a repetition of that at Cynosceph- 
aliB, but had even more important consequences. 

Important re- ' xi i • r, i -x li? • ^ 

suits of the Once more the legion showed itseli superior to 
^^^' the phalanx ; but now the phalanx Avas not mere- 

ly defeated but destroyed, and with it fell the monarchy 
which had invented it and by its means attained to great- 
ness. Nor was this the whole. Not only did the kingdom 
of Alexander perish at Pydna, 144 years after his death, but 
the universal dominion of Rome over the civilized world 
was thereby finally established. The battle of Pydna was 
the last occasion upon which a civilized foe contended on 
something like equal terms with Rome for a separate and 
independent existence. All the wars in which Rome was 
engaged after this were either rebellions, aggressive wars 
upon barbarians Avith a view to conquest, or defensive wars 
against the barbarians who from time to time assailed her. 
The victories of Zama, Magnesia, and Pydna convinced all 
the world but the " outer barbarians " that it was in vain to 
struggle against Roman ascendency, that safety Avas only to 
be found in submission and obedience. Hence the progress 
of Rome from this time was, comparatively speaking, peace- 
ful. Her successes had now reduced the whole civilized 
world to dependence. When it Avas her pleasure to ex- 
change dependence for actual incorporation into her empire, 
8he had simply to declare her Avill, and Avas, generally, unre- 
sisted. Occasionally, indeed, the state marked out for ab- 
sorption Avould in sheer despair take up arms; e. g., Acha&a, 
Carthage, Judaea. But for the most parfthere was no strug- 
gle, merely submission. Greece (except Achsea), Macedonia, 
Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, Avere annexed peaceably ; and the 
only remaining great war of the Republic was Avith the bar- 
barian, Mithridates of Pontus. 

29. But Rome, though her military successes had elevated 
her to this commanding position, was still loath to under- 
Settiement ^^^^ ^^^® actual government of the countries over 
made of the Avhich she had establislied her ascendency. Her 

territory. . . ^, . . •' , 

experiment in fepain Avas not encouraging; and 
she would Avillingly have obtained the advantages of a Avide- 
ly-extended sway, Avithout its drawbacks of enlarged respon- 
sibilities and ever-recurring difficulties and entanglements. 
Accordingly, her policy Avas still to leave the conquered re- 



PART I., PER. IV.] SETTLEMENT OF GREECE. 45 1 

gions to rule themselves, but at the same time so tt) weaken 
them by separation, that they might never more be formida- 
ble, and so to watch over and direct their proceedings that 
these might in no way clash with the notions which she en- 
tertained of her own interests. Moreover, as she saw no rea- 
son why she should not obtain permanent pecuniary advan- 
tage from her victories, she determined to take from both Il- 
ly ricum and Macedonia a land-tax equal to one-half of the 
amount which had been previously exacted by the native 
sovereigns. 

Settlement of the Hellenic Peninsula, (a) Macedonia was dis- 
armed and broken np into four separate states, witliout rights of intermar- 
riage or of acquiring land within each other's territories. Each of the four 
states was a federative republic (see p. 312). The Royal demesnes and the 
right of working the mines (a royal prerogative) were assumed by Rome ; 
and the land-tax was commuted into an annual payment to Rome of 100 
talents. (b) Illyria was divided into three small states. Certain cities 
which had favored Rome were exempted from taxation. The rest of the 
country was taxed at the rate of half of the former land-tax. The entire 
Ilhaian fleet was declared forfeit, and was presented to the Greek towns on 
the coast, (c) In Greece, the treatment of the several states varied consider- 
ably. The ^tolians were deprived of Amphipolis, and the Acarnanians of 
Leucas; Epirus was ravaged, 150,000 of the inhabitants sold into slavery, 
and the rest of the population delivered over to the government of a tyrant. 
All the leagues, except that of Acha^a, were dissolved ; and each city was 
made independent. The members of the patriotic party in the various states 
were accused of having favored Perseus, in act or thought, and were either 
executed or deported to Italy. Even Achoea, which had been the faithful ally 
of Rome throughout the struggle, was required to deliver up for trial a thou- 
sand of her chief men, who were thenceforward detained in Roman prisons 
as hostages for her good behavior. 

30. While, however, professedly leaving the countries 
which she had conquered to govern themselves, Rome could 
Roman sys- "^^ bring hcrself really to let them act as they 
tern of com- pleased. What she did was to substitute for 
government a system 01 surveillance. Every- 
where she was continually sending commissioners (lef/ati), 
who not merely kept her acquainted with all that passed in 
the states which they visited, but actively interfered with 
the course of government, suggesting certain proceedings 
and forbidding others, acting as referees in all quarrels be- 
tween state and state, giving their decisions in the name of 
Rome, and threatening^ her vengeance on the recalcitrant. 



452 ROME. [book v. 

31. The subjugation of the enemies of Rome was al- 
ways followed by a tendency on her part to quarrel with 
„ , , „ her friends. Her friends were maintained and 

Treatment of 

reiganuis aud strengthened merely as counterpoises to some 
foe; and Avhen the foe ceased to exist or to be 
formidable, the friends were no longer needed. Thus the 
fall of Macedonia and complete prostration of Greece pro- 
duced an immediate coolness between Rome and her chief 
Eastern allies, Pergamus and Rhodes. 

The statement that Eiimencs had thoughts of joining Perseus against 
Rome, and eren entered into negotiations with him, seems quite unworthy 
of credit. The coohiess certainly began with Rome, and arose from her no 
longer needing Eumenes. Hence her intrigues with his brother Attalus, u.c. 
1G7 ; her rejection of his request for (Enus and Maroneia ; her refusal to ad- 
mit him to an audience, b.c. IGG ; and her grant of independence to Pam- 
phylia, which was disputed between him and Antiochus. 

The Rhodians offended Rome by an offer to mediate between her and Per- 
seus, B.C. 1G8 ; but there is reason to believe that the Roman consul himself 
urged them to make the offer. Having fallen into the trap, they were pun- 
ished by the loss of all their possessions upon the main-land, by serious inter- 
ferences with their trade, and by the establishment of a free port at Delos, 
which greatly diminished their commercial gains. 

32. The vast prestige which Rome acquired by the vic- 
tory of Pydna is strikingly shown by the fact that she was 
Interference able in the same year to deprive Antiochus Epi[)h- 
afui E^ypt"^"^ anes of the fruits of all his Egyptian successes, 
15.C.1GS. jjy r^ j^^QYQ couimand haughtily issued by her com- 
missioner, Popillius. (See j^p. 256, 2*78.) Antiochus with- 
drew from Egypt when he was on the point of conquering 
it; and even relinquished the island of Cyprus to his antag- 
onist. Rome allowed him, however, to retain possession of 
Coele-Syria and Palestine. 

33. The pacification of the East was followed by another 
of those pauses which occur from time to time in the history 

, , of the Roman Republic, after a great effort has 

Unimportant ^ ' • t t 

Avars from been made and a great success attained, when 
the government ap23ears to have been undecided 
as to its next step. Eighteen years intervene between the 
close of the Third Macedonian and the commencement of 
the Third Punic War — eighteen years, during which Rome 
was engaged in no contest of the least importance, unless it 
were that Avhich continued to be waged in Spain against the 



PART I., PKR. IV.] THIRD rUNlC WAR. 453 

Lusitanians and a few other native tribes. She did not, in- 
deed, ever cease to push her dominion in some quarter. In 
the intervals between her great wars, she almost always 
prosecuted some petty quarrels; and this was the case in 
the interval between B.C. 168 and 150, when she carried on 
hostilities with several insignificant peoples, as the Celtic 
tribes, in the Alpine valleys, the Ligurians of the tract bor- 
dering on Nicoea (Nice) and Antipolis (Antibes), the Dalma- 
tians, the Corsicans, and others. 

Important successes of C. Sulpicius Gallus against the Eastern Ligurians 
and of his colleague M. Claudius Marcellus against the Celts in the Alps, 
B.C. 166. War in Corsica, b.c. 163 to 162. War with the Dalmatians, 
B.C. 156 to 155. War with the Western Ligurians, B.C. 154. War with 
the Celtiberians and Lusitanians, B.C. 153 to 150. 

34. But the time came when the government was no 
longer content with these petty and trivial enterprises. Af- 
Chan^re of ^^^* eighteen years of irresolution, it was decided 
policy. Be- to take important matters in hand — to remove 

termination n ■, i • 1 • i -, 

to extend the out 01 the way the City which, however reduced, 
empire. ^^^^ ^^.^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^ Rome's solc rival in the West- 

ern world, and to assume the actual government of a new 
dependency in a new continent. The determination to de- 
stroy Carthage and to form Africa into a province, was in 
no way forced upon Rome by circumstances, but was de- 
cided upon after abundant deliberation by the predominant 
party in the state, as the course best calculated to advance 
Roman interests. The grounds of quarrel with Carthage 
were miserably insufficient; and the tyranny of the stronger 
was probably never exerted in a grosser or more revolting 
form, than when Rome required that Carthage, which had 
observed, and more than observed, every obligation whereto 
she was bound in treaty, should nevertheless, for the greater 
advantage of Rome, cease to exist. It was not to be expect- 
ed that the idea of a political suicide would approve itself to 
the Carthaginian government. But less than this would not 
content Rome, which, having first secured every possible ad- 
vantage from the inclination of her adversary to make sacri- 
fices for peace, revealed finally a requirement that could not 
be accepted without war. 

35. The Third Punic War lasted four years — from b.c. 149 
to 146 inclusive. It was a struirffle into which CarthaQ:een 



454 KOME. [hook v. 



Third Piiiiic 



tered purely from a feeling of despair, because 
Wai-ristc.' 149- the terms offered to her — the destruction of the 
tion of ''Afri- ^ity, and the removal of the people to an inland 
^"•" situation — were such that death seemed prefera- 

ble to them. The resistance made was gallant and prolong- 
ed, though at no time was there any reasonable hope of suc- 
cess. Carthage was without ships, without allies, almost 
without arms, since she had recently surrendered armor and 
weapons for 200,000 men. Yet she maintained the unequal 
fight for four years, exhibiting a valor and an inventiveness 
worthy of her best days. At length, in B.C. 146, the Romans 
under Scipio ^milianus, forced their w^ay into the town, 
took it almost house by house, fired it in all directions, and 
ended by levelling it with the ground. The Carthaginian 
territory was then made into the " province " of "Africa ;" a 
land-tax and poll-tax were imposed; and the seat of govern- 
ment was fixed at Utica. 

The utter destruction of Cai'thage was parallel to that of Veii in b.c. 393, 
of Corinth in the same year with Carthage, and of Jerusalem, a,d, 70. Rome 
was unwilling that there should anywhere exist a city which could be viewed 
as rivalling her in size, wealth, or splendor. It is impossible that she could 
have really feared any thing from the power of Carthage. 

30. During the continuance of the Carthaginian War, 
troubles broke out in the Hellenic peninsula, Avhich enabled 
Macedonian Rome to pursue in that quarter also the new pol- 
Wars.^^Mace- icy of annexation and absorption. A pretender, 
Achteabecome ^'^^^ gave out that he was the son of Perseus, 
"provinces." yaiscd the Standard of revolt in Macedonia, de- 
feated the Romans in a pitched battle, b.c. 149, and invaded 
Thessaly, but was in the following year himself defeated and 
made prisoner by Metellus. The opportunity was at once 
taken of reducing Macedonia into the form of a "province." 
At the same time, without even any tolerable pretext, a 
quarrel was picked with the Achaean League, b.c. 148, which 
was required to dissolve itself A brief war followed (see 
p. 314), which was terminated by Mummius, who plundered 
an4 destroyed Corinth, b.c. 146. Achtea was then practical- 
ly added to the empire, though she Avas still allowed for 
some years to amuse herself with some of the old forms of 
freedom, from which all vital force had departed. 

37. But while Rome was thus extendine: herself in the 



PAKT 1., PKK. IV.] WAR IN fePAIN. 455 

South and in the East, and adding new provinces to her em- 
War in Spain, pii'^, in her old provinces of the West her author- 
B.C. i4»-i33. j^y ^^g fiercely disputed ; and it was with the 
utmost difficulty that she maintained herself in possession. 
The native tribes of the Spanish Peninsula were brave and 
freedom-loving ; their country was strong and easy of de- 
fense; and Rome found it almost impossible to subjugate 
them. The Roman dominion had indeed never yet been es- 
tablished in the more northern and western portions of the 
country, which were held by the Lusitani, the Gallseci, the 
Yaccaii, and the Cantabri ; and a perpetual border war was 
consequently maintained, in which the Roman armies were 
frequently worsted. The gallantry and high spirit of the 
natives was especially shown from e.g. 149 to 140 under the 
leadership of the Lusitanian, Viriathus ; and again from b.c. 
143 to 133, in the course of the desperate resistance offered 
to the Roman arms by the ^NTumantians. Rome was una- 
ble to overcome either enemy without having recourse to 
treachery. 

Details of the War in Spain, from b.c. 149 to 133. The Lusitani in- 
vade Turditania, b.c. 149. Viriathus, being made general, extricates them 
from a perilous position, and defeats the prretor Vetilius. For five years 
(b.c. 149 to 145) he continues the struggle with uniform success. In b.c. 
145, the consul Fabius Maximus JEmilianus, undertakes the war and defeats 
him ; but he gains over most of the Celtiberians and becomes more powerful 
than ever. In b.c. 142, Viriathus was first defeated by, and then victorious 
over, Servilianus, the adopted brother of iEmilianus, after Avhich he obtained 
a peace on fair terms, which was ratified by the Senate, b.c. 141. This 
peace, however, the Romans broke in the ensuing year, b.c. 140, when the 
consul Senilius Ctepio first attacked Viriathus with his troops and then pro- 
cured his assassination. The Lusitani, upon this, submitted ; but the Nu- 
mantians, who had the year before completely defeated the consul Q. Pom- 
peius, continued the struggle with success, gaining victories over the pro-con- 
sul Popillius, in B.C. 138, and over the consul Hostilius Mancinus, in b.c. 
137. On the second of these occasions a peace was made, which saved a 
Roman army of 20,000 men. But, as after the Caudine Forks, Rome repu- 
diated her engagements. War was renewed in b.c. 136, but with little suc- 
cess, the pro-consul Lepidus suffering a severe defeat. Calpurnius Piso, in 
B.C. 135, effected nothing. At last, in b.c. 134, the w\ir w^as undertaken by 
Scipio Africanus JEmilianus, who so improved the discipline of the Roman 
forces, that in the following year, B.C. 133, he succeeded in bringing the war 
to an end by starving out the Numantians, who fired their city and then slew 
themselves, rather than fall into the hands of the Romans. 

38. While the freedom-lovino; tribes of the West showed 



456 ROME. [hook v. 

so much reluctance to surrender their liberties into the 
Komeinher- hancls of Rome,in the East her dominion received 
dorn^of Per?a- ^ l^rgc extension by the voluntary act of one of 
mus, B.C. 133. her allies. Attains III., king of Pergamus, who 
held under his sovereignty the greater part of Asia Minor, 
was found at his death (b.c. 133) to have left his kingdom 
by will to the Roman people. This strange legacy was, as 
was natural, disputed by the expectant heir, Aristonicus, bas- 
tard son of Attains, and was afterwards denied by Mithrida- 
tes V. ; but there is no real ground for calling it in question. 
Rome had no doubt intrigued to obtain the cession, and con- 
sequently she did not hesitate to accept it. A short war 
with Aristonicus (b.c. 133 to 130) gave the Romans full pos- 
session of the territory, the greater portion of which was 
formed into a province ; Phrygia Major being, however, de- 
tached, and ceded to Mithridates TV., king of Pontus, who 
had assisted Rome in the brief sti'uggle. 

The territory of Rome at this time included, besides all Italy up to the 
Alps, the " provinces " (provincice=providentife, i. e., "cares " or "charges") 
of Hispania Ulterior and Hispania Citerior, of Africa (the old 
ten™o""%^ov- territory of Carthage), of Sicily, and of Sardinia and Corsica, 
iiices :" its in ti^e AVest ; and in the East, of Macedonia, Achaia, and Asia, 
enc eucy. ^^ ^^^^ absorbed portion of the kingdom of Pergamus. Gallia 
Cisalpina and Liguria were also "provinces." Each province was adminis- 
tered by a governor, who was either a "pro-consul," a "proetor," or a " pro- 
praetor." These governors received no stipend, but were entitled to certain 
contributions from the provincials for the support of themselves and their 
court, and might also receive voluntary gifts — two fertile sources of abuse 
and misgovernment. Their suite or court (cohors) consisted of a certain 
number of quaestors, of secretaries, notaries, lictors, augurs, public criers, etc. 
They had at once the chief civil authority and the military command in 
their provinces. They were irremovable during their term of office, which 
might be prolonged from year to year ; nor could any complaint be brought 
against them till their office was at an end. If serious complaints were then 
made, they could be brought to trial, either criminally before the people, or 
by civil action before judges chosen from among the senators. In neither 
case, however, was there much chance of condemnation ; and in the latter, 
the condemnation could be nothing but a fine, which was easily paid by th.e 
extortionate governor, who would often remain after it one of the richest men 
in Rome. It is evident that this system must have been grievously oppress- 
ive to the provincials, and fearfully corruptive of public morals at Rome. 

39. The internal changes in the Roman government dur- 
ing the period here under consideration were gentle, grad- 
ual, and for the most part informal j but they amounted in 



TART I., PER. IV.] CHANGES IN THE CONSTITUTION. 457 

Chancres in course of time to a sensible and far from unirapor- 
the Roman tant modification. The Ions: struofffle between 

government i-r.-- T-mi- ^ 

at this time the Jratrician and I'lebeian orders was termma- 
^'^ "^ ' ted by the Genucian revolution ; and, the chief 

Plebeian families being now placed on a par with the Patri- 
cians, a united nobility stood at the head of the nation, con- 
fronting and confronted by a proletariate, with only a rather 
small a'nd not very active middle class intervening between 
them. The proletariate, however, was in part amenable to 
the nobility, bein^ composed of persons who were its Cli- 
ents; and it was not difticult to keep the remaining mem- 
bers in good-humor by bestowing upon them from time to 
time allotments of land in the conquered territories. On the 
whole, it may be said that the proletariate was, during this 
period, at the beck and call of the nobles, while the only op- 
position which caused them anxiety w\is that of the middle 
class — Italian farmers principajly — who, supported by some 
of the less distinguished Plebeian " houses," formed an "op- 
position," which was sometimes formidable. 

40. It was the object of the nobles, (1) to increase the 
power of the Senate as compared with the "comitia;" and 
Exaltation of (2) to bring the " comitia " themselves under ar- 
the Senate. istocratic influence. The exaltation of the Sen- 
ate was effected very gradually. The more important for- 
eign affairs became — and every thing was foreign out of Ita- 
ly — the greater grew to be the power of the Senate, which 
settled all such matters -without reference to the " comitia." 
And, with respect to home affairs, the more widely the fran- 
chise was extended (and it reached through the JRoman col- 
onies to very remote parts of Italy), the more numerous and 
varied the elements that were admitted to it, the less w^ere 
the " comitia " possessed of any distinct and positive will, 
and the more easy did it become to manipulate and manage 
them. As a rule, the people stood and assented to all pro- 
posals made by the magistrates. They w^ere too widely 
scattered over the territory to be instructed beforehand, too 
numerous to be addressed effectively at the time of voting — 
besides which, no one but the presiding magistrate had the 
right of addressing them. 

41. To bring the "comitia" more completely under the 
hands of the government, the vast bodies of freedmen, who 

20 



458 KOME. [book v. 

Corruption of Constituted at this time the chief portion of the 
the"comitia." retainers (cUentes) of each noble house, were con- 
tinually admitted to the franchise, either by a positive en- 
actment, as in B.C. 240, or by the carelessness or collusion of 
the censors, who every five years made out anew the roll of 
the citizens. The lower classes of the independent voters 
were also systematically corruj)ted by the practice of lar- 
gesses, especially distributions of corn, and by the exhibition 
of games at the private cost of the magistrates, who curried 
favor with the voters by the splendor and expense of their 
shows. It was also, perhaps, to increase the influence of the 
nobles over the centuries that the change was made by 
which each of the five classes was assigned an equal number 
of votes; for the wealthier citizens not within the noble 
class were at this time the most inde23endent and the most 
likely to thwart the will of the government. 

42. Still, no hard-and-fast line was drawn between the no- 
bles and the rest of the community, no barrier wliich could 
Kome falls not be overstcppcd. A family became noble 
dSfhe^niieof through its members obtaining any of the high 
a clique. ofiiccs of the State, and through its thus having 
" images of ancestors " to show. And legally the highest 
office was open to every citizen. Practically, however, the 
chief offices came to be confined almost to a clique. This 
was owing, in the first place, to the absolute need of great 
wealth for certain offices, as especially the sedileship, and to 
the law (passed in b.c. 180) by which a regular rotation of 
offices was fixed, and no one could reach the higher till he 
had first served the lower. But, beyond this, it is evident 
that after a time a thoroughly exclusive spirit grew up ; and 
all the influence of the nobles over the "comitia" was ex- 
erted to keep out of high office every " new man " — every 
one, that is, who did not belong to the narrow list of some 
forty or fifty "houses" who considered it their right to rule 
the commonwealth. 

See the work of Ruperti, Stemmata gentium Romanarum. Gottingen, 
1795; 8vo. 

43. The attempts of the " oi^position" (see § 39) were lim- 
weakandnav- ited to two kinds of efforts. First, they vainly 
thl^'^oppJst^ wasted their strength in noble but futile efforts 
tion," ^Q check the spread of luxury and corruption, in- 



PABT I., PER. v.] CORRUPTION. 459 

eluding however under those harsh names much that modern 
society would regard as proper civilization and refinement. 
Secondly, they now and then succeeded by determined ex- 
ertions in raising to high office a "new man" — a Porcius 
Cato, or a C. Flaminius — who was a thorn in the side of the 
nobles during the remainder of his lifetime, but rarely effect- 
ed any political change of importance. Altogether, the " op- 
position" seems fairly taxable with narrow views and an in- 
ability to grapple with the difficulties of the situation. The 
age was one of "political mediocrities." Intent on pursuing 
their career of conquest abroad, the Roman people cared"* 
little and thought little of affairs at home. The State drift- 
ed into difficulties, which were unperceived and unsuspect- 
ed, till they suddenly declared themselves with startling vio- 
lence at the epoch whereat we have noAV arrived. . 

By far the best account of the internal condition of Rome at this period, 
which has been strangely neglected by most writers of Roman history, Avill be 
found in the Romische Geschichte of Mommsen, book iii., chaps, xi. and xii. 

FIFTH PERIOD. 

From the Commencement of internal Troubles under the Gracchi to the 
Establishment of the Empire under Augustus, B.C. 133 to a.d. 30. 

Sources. The continuous histories of this period, composed by ancient 
writers, whether Greek or Latin, if we except mere sketches and epitomes, 
are all lost. For the earlier portion of it — B.C. 133 to 70 — our materials are 
especially scanty. Plutarch, in his Lives of the Gracchi, of Marius, Sylla, 
Lucullus, Crassus, and Sertorius, and Appian, De Bellis Civilibus, are the 
chief authorities ; to which may be added Sallust's Jugurtha, a brilliant 
and valuable monograph, together Avith a few fragments of his Histories. In 
this comparative scarcity of sources, even the brief compendium of the preju- 
diced Paterculus, and the Epitomes of the careless and inaccurate Livy, 
come to have an importance. From about B.C. 70, there is an improvement 
both in the amount and in the character of the extant materials. Appian 
continues to be of service, as also does Plutarch in his Lives of Cicero, Pom- 
pey, Julius Ccesar, Cato the younger, Brutus, and Antonius; while we obtain, 
in addition, abundant information of the most authentic kind, first, from the 
contemporary >S/7eecAe5 and Letters of Cicero, and then from the Commenta- 
ries of C^SAR and Hirtius. The continuous narrative of Dio Cassius be- 
gins also from the year B.C. 69; the Catiline of Sallust belongs to the 
years B.C. 66 to 62 ; and Suetonius's Lives of Julius and Octavius fall, the 
one entirely, the other partially, within the date which terminates the period. 

Among modem works wholly or specially devoted to this period of Roman 
History may be mentioned — 

De Brosses, Histoire de la Repziblique Romaine dans le cours du Heme 



460 ROME. [book v. 

Siecle. Dijon, 1777; 3 vols. 4to. (Translated into German, Avith addi- 
tions, by ScHLEUTER, in 1790.) 

Long, G., Decline of the Roman Republic. London, 1864; 2 vols, 8v&, 
A careful collection of facts, embracing an nnusually small amount of theo- 
ry. (This work belongs in part to the preceding period ; since it commences 
with the history of b.c. 154, and contains an account of the Avars in Spain 
with Viriathus and the Numantians, and of the contemporary civil history.) 

Drumann, W., Geschichte Roins in seinem Uehergange von der Repuhlik 
zur Monarchic. Konigsberg, 1834-44 ; 6 vols. 8vo. 

Lau, Th., Die Gracchen und ihre Zeit; Hamburg, 1854 , 8vo; and the 
Same author's Cornelius Sulla, eine Biographic; Hamburg, 1855 ; 8vo. 

NiTZSCH, K. W., Die Gracchen und ihre Vorganger. Berlin, 1847; 8vo. 

1. An epoch is now reached at which the foreign wars 
of Rome become few and unimportant, while the internal 
General char- affairs of the State have once more a grave and 
pertod.^ ^Time absorbing interest. Civil troubles and commo- 
and mstmS^^ tions foUow One another witli great rapidity ; 
ance. and finally we come to a period when the arms 

of the Romans are turned against themselves, and the con- 
querors of the world engage in civil wars of extraordinary 
violence. The origin of these disturbances is to be found in 
the gulf which had been gradually forming and widening 
between the poor and the rich, the nobles and the proletari- 
ate. For a long series of years, from the termination of the 
Second Saranite War to the final settlement of Northern 
Italy (b.c. 303 to 1'77), the pressure of poverty had been 
continually kept down and alleviated, partly by the long 
and bloody struggles which decimated the population and 
so relieved the labor-market, partly by distributions of plun- 
der, and, above all, by assignations of lands. But the last 
Italian colony Avas sent out in b.c. lYV; and a new genera- 
tion had now grown up which had neither received nor ex- 
pected any such relief The lands of Italy were all occu- 
pied ; no nation within its borders remained to be conquer- 
ed ; and settlements beyond the seas possessed for the or- 
dinary Roman citizen few attractions. As the wars came 
to be less constant and less sanguinary, the population in- 
creased rapidly, and no vent was provided for the new- 
comers. The labor-market was overcrowded; it became 
difficult for a poor man to obtain a living ; and those dan- 
gers arose which such a condition of things is sure to bring 
upon a State. 



PART I., ri:R. v.] CIVIL TROUBLES. 461 

The number of adult male Roman citizens, which was but 269,015 in B.C. 
173, had increased to above 330,000 by B.C. 13G, and in n.c. 125 stood at 
390,736. In B.C. 114 it was 394,336, and in b.c. 86, after the admission 
of the Italians, it was 463,000. 

2. The state of affairs would have been very different, 
had the Licinian law with respect to the employment of 
free labor been enforced against the occupiers of 
SfS^aud the public domain. This domain, which had 
SoySt now become extremely large (see p. 426), had, 
ou'fhe State* naturally enough, been occupied by the capital- 
lauds. -g^ (which was nearly identical with the gov- 

erning) class, who had at the time seemed to compensate 
fairly'^the non-capitalists by extremely liberal allotments of 
small plots of ground in absolute property. But, while the 
poorer classes increased in number, the richer were station- 
ary, or even dwindled. Old "houses" became extinct, 
while new "houses" only with great difficulty pushed them- 
selves into the ruling order. There were no means of ob- 
taining much wealth at Rome except by the occupation of 
domain lands on a large scale, by the farming of the reve- 
nue or by the government of the provinces. But these 
sources of wealth were, all of them, at the disposal of the 
rulino- class, who assigned them, almost without exception, 
to members of their own families. Thus the wealthy were 
continually becoming more wealthy, while the poor grew 
poorer. There was no appreciable introduction of new 
blood into the ranks of the aristocracy. The domain land 
was in b.c. 133 engrossed by the members of some forty or 
fifty Roman "houses" and by a certain number of rich Ital- 
ians, of whom the former had grown to be enormously 
wealthy by inheritance, intermarriages, and the monopoly 
of government employments. The "modus agrorum" es- 
tablished by Licinius had fallen into oblivion, or at least 
into disuse; and several thousand "jugera" were probably 
often held by a single man. Still, in all this there would 
have been no very great hardship, had the domain land been 
cultivated by the free labor of Roman citizens, either wholly 
or in any decent pmportion. In that case, the noble " pos- 
sessor" must have conveyed to his estate, in whatever part 
of Italy it was situated, a body of poor Roman freemen, who 
would'have formed a sort of colony upon his land, and w—^'-^ 



Id 



4g2 ROME. [r.ooiv v. 

have only differed from other colonists in working for wages 
instead of cultivating on their own account. The Roman 
labor-market would have been relieved, and no danger would 
liave threatened the State from its lower orders. But it 
seemed to the "possessor" more economical and more con- 
venient to cultivate his land by means of slaves, which the 
immerous wars of the times, together with the regular slave- 
trade, had made cheap. The Licinian enactment was there- 
fore very early set at naught ; and it was not enforced. Ev- 
erywhere over Italy the public domain was cultivated by 
gangs of slaves. 

3. Among the more wise and patriotic of the Romans it 
had long been seen that this state of things was fraught 
Apprehension w4th peril. At Romc a proletariate daily becom- 
the'^stSiii^- ing poorer and more unwieldy, content hitherto 
r?onin?Gm'?: to be at the beck and call of the nobles, but if it 
chus to bring qy^qq o'rew to be hunc^ry and hopeless, then most 

forward his » . ° -^ i i • 

laws. dangerous — m Italy a vast slave population, com- 

'j^osed largely of those who had known liberty and were not 
deficient hi intelligence, harshly treated and without any at- 
tachment to its masters, which might be expected on any fa- 
vorable opportunity to rise and fight desperately for freedom 
— the government, if an outbreak occurred, dependent on the 
swords of the soldiers, who might largely sympathize with 
the poorer classes, from which they were in great measure 
taken — such a combination boded ill for peace, and claimed 
the serious consideration of all who pretended to the name 
of statesmen. Unhappily, at Rome, statesmen were "few 
and far between;" yet, about B.C. 140, Lailius (the friend of 
Scipio) had recognized the peril of the situation, and had 
proposed some fresh agrarian enactments as a remedy, but 
had been frightened from his purpose by the opposition 
which the nobles threatened. Matters went on in the old 
groove till B.C. 133, when at length, a tribune of the Plebs, 
Ti. Sempronius Gracchus by name, a member of one of the 
noblest Plebeian houses, came forward with a set of proposi- 
tions which had for their object the relief of the existing dis- 
tress among the Roman citizens, and the improvement of the 
general condition of Italy by the substitution of free cultiva- 
tors of the small yeoman class for the gangs of disaffected 
slaves who were noAV spread over the country. The exact 



TAUT 1., PICK. V.J LAWS OF THE ELDER GKACCHUb. 40. J 

measures wliicli he proposed were, (1) The revival of the ob- 
solete law of Liciiiius, lixing the amount of domain land 
which a man might legally occupy at 500 jugera, with the 
modification that he might hold also 250 jugera for each of 
liis unemancipated adult sons ; (2) The appointment of a 
standing commission of three members to enforce the law ; 
(3) The division among the poorer citizens of the State lands 
which would by the operation of the first provision become 
vacant ; (4) The compensation of the possessores on account 
of their losses from improvements made on the lands winch 
they relinquished by the assignment to them of the portions 
of land which they legally retained in absolute ownership ; 
and (5) The proviso that the new allotments, when once 
made, should be inalienable. 

There is no reason to believe that Gracclius was actuated by any but pure 
and patriotic motives. The servile war which was raging in Sicily (b.c. 134 
to 132) indicated a danger which might at any moment extend to Italy, and 
which did in fact show itself in places, as particularly at Minturnaj and Sinu- 
essa. And some poor-law or other, some legal provision for the relief of the 
distress at Rome, was a State necessity. 

4. The propositions of Gracchus were intensely disagreea- 
ble to the bulk of the nobility and to a certain number of. 
His laws op- the richer Italians, who had, legally or illegally, 
pSV,'«.a become occupiers of the domain to an extent be- 
133. yond that which it was proposed to establish as 
the limit. Naturally therefore his laws were opposed. The 
opposition was led by one of his own colleagues, the tribune 
Octavius, who by his veto prevented the vote of the tribes 
from being taken. An unseemly contention followed, which 
Gracchus, unfortunately for himself and for his cause, termi- 
nated by proposing to the tribes, and carrying, the deposition 
of his adversary. The laws were then passed, a commission 
was appointed (Gracchus, his brother Caius, and Ap. Claudi- 
us, his father-in-law), and the work of resumption and distri- 
bution commenced. 

5. But it was more easy to initiate than to carry out a 
measure of such extent and complication, and ' one that 

_. - aroused such fierce passions, as that which the 

bold tribune had taken in hand. As he 'advanced 

in his work his popularity waned. His adversaries took 

heart ; and, to secure himself and his cause, he was forced to 



464 ROME, [book v. 

propose fresh laws of a more and more revolutionary char- 
acter. The propositions which he made, and his conduct in 
endeavoring to secure his re-election, for the purpose of car- 
rying them, goaded his enemies to fury ; and the Senate it- 
self, with Scipio Nasica at its head, took the lead in a violent 
attack upon him as he presided in the Tribes, and murdered 
him in open day together with 300 of his partisans. 

The proposals of Gracchus to give the Equestrian Order a distinct political 
status, by conferring on it the right to furnish one-half of the jtidices, hitherto 
taken only from the Senate, to grant an appeal to the people in civil causes, 
and to claim for the people the entire right of administering the newly-gained 
kingdom of Pergamus (besides determining the disposition of the treasure in 
their own favor), were measures of a far more revolutionary character than 
his Agrarian Law, which was less severe than that of Licinius. 

6. The open murder of a tribune of the Plebs engaged in 
the duties of his office was an unprecedented act in Roman 
The Ao-rarian history (for the assassination of Genucius, b.c. 
ofTi^GniS'^ 471, had been secret), and sufficiently indicated 
chus sets to the arrival of a' new period, when the old respect 
ter a while its for law and Order would no longer hold its 
aresuspenSd, grouud, siud the State would become a prey to 
1J.C.129. ^YiQ violent and the unscrupulous. For the mo- 

ment, however, the evil deed done recoiled upon its authors. 
N'asica, denounced as a murderer on all hands, though iin- 
prosecuted, was forced to quit Italy and go into banishment. 
The Agrarian Commission of Gracchus was renewed, and al- 
lowed to continue its labors. Moderation on the part of the 
democratic leaders who had succeeded to the position of 
Gracchus would have secured important results for the poor 
from the martyrdom of their champion ; but the arbitrary 
conduct of the new commissioners, Carbo and Flaccus, dis- 
gusted the moderate party at Rome and large numbers of 
the Italians ; the Senate found itself strong enough to quash 
the Commission and assign the execution of the Sempronian 
Law to the ordinary executive, the consuls ; and finally, 
when, by the assassination of the younger Africanus, the 
democrats had put themselves decidedly in the wrong, it 
was able to go a step farther, and suspend proceedings un- 
der the law altogether. 

7. A lull in the storm now occurred — a period of compar- 
ative tranquillity, during which only a few mutterings were 



FAKT I., PEK. v.] REFORMS OF THE GKACCIII. 465 

Tranquillity heard, indications to the wise that all was not 
the'cfaims^oi^ over. A claim to the franchise began to be 
the itaiiaus. urged by the Latins and Italians, and to find ad- 
vocates among the democratic Romans, who thought that in 
the accession of these fresh members to the tribes they saw 
a means of more effectually controlling the Senate. Q. Fa- 
bius Flaccus, the consul of b.c. 125, formulated these claims 
into a law ; but the Senate contrived to tide over the diffi- 
culty by sending him upon foreign service. The revolt of 
Revolt of Fre- the disappointed Fregellse followed; and the 
geUse. bloody vengeance taken on the unhappy town 

frightened the Italians, for the time at any rate, into silence. 
Meanwhile, the younger Gracchus, who had gone as quaestor 
into Sardinia, b.c. 126, was detained there by the Senate's 
orders till b.c. 124, when he suddenly returned to Rome and 
announced himself as a candidate for the tribunate. 

Petty Wars op this Period. Revolt of Aiistonicus in Asia, b.c. 131. 
Revolt put down, b.c. 1 29. Wav in lUyria, ibid. Guerrilla War in Sardinia, 
B.C. 126 to 124. War with the Salluvii (Ligurians) for the protection of 
Massilia, B.C. 125 to 123. Balearic isles conquered by Metellus, b.c. 123. 

8. The measures of C. Gracchus were more varied and 
more sweeping than those of his elder brother; but they 
Democratic re- Were cast in the same mould. He had the same 
ymxnger Grac- two objects in vicw — the relief of the poorer 
murdered v.c. classes, and the depression of the power of the 
I'^i- Senate. Like his brother, he fell a victim to his 

exertions in the popular cause ; but he effected more. His 
elevation of the Equestrian Order, and his system of corn-lar- 
gesses — the "Roman poor-law," as it has been called — sur- 
vived him, and became permanent parts of the constitution. 
To him is also attributable the extension of the Roman colo- 
nial system into the provinces. He was a great and good 
man; but he had a difficult part to play ; and he was want- 
ing in the tact and discretion which the circumstances of the 
times required. The Senate, being far more than his match 
in finesse and manoeuvre, triumphed over him, though not 
without once more having recourse to violence, and staining 
the streets and prisons of Rome with the blood of above 
3000 of her citizens. 

Measures op the younger Gracchus. 1. Renewal of his brother's 
Agrarian Law, with modifications — ^viz. (a) A diminution in the size of the 

20* 



466 ROM^. [book v. 

allotments : (Jj) The retention of the allottees in the position of possessores hy 
the proviso tliat they should pay an annual quit-rent to the State ; (c) The 
requirement of good character as a condition in all claimants of allotments ; 
(d) An arrangement for settling the new allottees, or at any rate a portion 
of them, in colonies, at Capua, Tarentum, Carthage, and elsewhere. 2. Law 
requiring the State to sell corn at a loss to all Roman citizens who should 
apply for it, unsound in principle and injurious to the State in practice, but 
founded on the old precedent of similar sales in time of famine. 3. Law fix- 
ing the minimum of age for enlistment at 17, and requirmg the State to fur- 
nish the soldiers' clothes. 4. Law transferring the duty of furnishing juries 
(Judices) from the Senate to the knights (equites), and thereby elevating tlie 
knights into a distinct " Order." 5. Law requiring the Senate to determine 
the consular provinces beforehand, and to leave it to the consuls themselves 
to decide by lot or agreement which province each should administer. G. Law 
assigning the taxation of the new province of "Asia" to the Roman censors. 
7. Law assigning the management of the public roads in Italy to the trib- 
unes of the Plebs. And 8. Proposal, which did not become law, to extend 
the Roman franchise, at any rate to all the Latin colonies ; perhaps to all free 
Italians. This last proposition, which was at once just and really advanta- 
geous to the State, lost C. Gracchus his popularity with the existing voters ; 
and the Senate then, by encouraging the tribune Livius Drusus to outbid 
him in popular offers, which were never intended to be carried out, completed 
his ruin. When, in B.C. 121, he failed to obtain his re-election to the trib- 
unate, the aristocrats knew that they might safely sweep him from their path. 
The colony sent, at the instance of C. Gracchus, to Carthage in b.c. 122, 
was followed by another, which was founded at Aquie Sextios (Aix in Pro- 
vence) in the same year, and by a third, Narbo Marcius (Narbonne), founded 
four years later, b.c. 118, on the coast of Gaul where it approaches Spain. 

9. The death of C. Gracchus was followed within a short 
space by the practical repeal of his. Agrarian law. First the 
proviso that the allotments made under it should 
hiw is'lepeki- he inalienable was abrogated, so that the rich 
^^* might recover them through mortgage or pur- 

chase. Then a law was passed forbidding any further allot- 
ments ("Lex Boria"), and imposing a quit-rent on all " pos- 
sessores," the whole amount of which was to be annually 
distributed among the poorer classes of the people. Final- 
ly, by the " Lex Thoria," the quit-rents were abolished, and 
the domain land in the hands of the " possessores " was made 
over to them absolutely. 

The other laws of C. Gracchus, except those which were in their nature 
temporary, seem to have remained in force either permanently or for some 
considei-able time. The "Lex Frumentaria" became the foundation of a 
regular system. That with respect to the "judices" lasted till the time of 
Sulla, who restored the right of furnishing them to the Senate, b.c. 80. 



PART I., PER. v.] ARISTOCRATICAL REACTION. 467 

The History of the Gracchi and their period has been a favorite subject 
for historical monographs. Besides the works on this point mentioned above 
( pp. 460, '61), the reader may consult 

Hegewisch, D. H., Geschichte der Gracchischen Unruhen. Altona, 1801. 

Heeren, A. H. L., Geschichte der hiirgerlichen Unruhen der Gracchen in 
his Vermischte historische Schriften, vol. iii. Gottingen, 1824. 

10. The twenty years from b.c. 120 to 100 formed a time 
of comparative internal tranquillity. Rome during this pe- 
Tranquii peri- ^''^^^ ^^^^ undev the governinent of the aristocrat- 
od. Progress ical party, which directed her policy and filled up 

of corruption. !: n f-u i • ^ ai -o 4. ti, ^ i 

most ot the high omces. But the party was dur- 
ing the whole period losing ground. The corruption of the 
upper classes was gradually increasing, and — what was 
w'orse for their intei'ests — was becoming more generally 
known. The circumstances of the Jus^urthine War broue'ht 
it prominently into notice. At the same time the democrat- 
ic party was learning its strength. It found itself able by 
vigorous efforts to carry its candidates and its measures in 
the Tribes. It learnt to use the weapons which had proved 
SO" effectual in the hands of the nobles — violence and armed 
tumult — against them. And, towards the close of the peri- 
od, it obtained leaders as bold and ruthless as those who in 
the time of the Gracchi had secured the victory for the op- 
posite faction. 

The severe exercise of the censorship (especially b.c. 115), the sumptuary 
laws, the trials and inquiries (qucestiones) of this period, revealed rather than 
checked the growing corruption. Almost every man at Rome was found to 
have his price. Foreign princes bought their crowns of the Roman nobles, 
who in their turn bought their offices of the people. The judges, whether 
senators or knights, sold their decisions. Wealth continually flowed in from 
the gifts of the dependent monarchs and the plunder of the provincials. 
Enormous fortunes were made by almost every governor, quaistor, and farm- 
er of the revenue. 

11. While internally Rome remained in tolerable tranquil- 
lity, externally she was engaged in several most important 
Wars of the and even dangerous wars. The year of the death 
period. q£> q Gracchus, B.C. 121, saw the conquest of 
Southern Gaul effected by the victories of Domitius and Fa- 
bins, and the formation of that nevf "Province" whereto the 
title has ever since adhered as a proper name (Provence). 
Three years later, b.c. 118, the troubles began in Africa which 
led to the Jugurthine War. That war was chiefly important 



468 HOME. i^ijooK V. 

for the revelation which it made of Roman aristocratic cor- 
ruption, and for the fact that it first brought prominently 
into notice the two great party-leaders, Marius and Sulla. 
Scarcely was it ended when a real danger threatened Rome 
from the barbarians of the North, a danger from which Ma- 
rius, the best general of the time, with difficulty saved her. 

Details of the Jugtjrthine War. Assassination of Hiempsal by Ju- 
giu'tha, B.C. 118. Appeal of Adherbal to Rome, and partition of the kingdom 
JiT'-urthme between him and Juguvtha, B.C. 117. Aggressions of Jugnr- 
War, B.C. 111- tha on Adherbal, B.C. 116 to 113. His siege of Cirta — Ad- 
•^^^' herbal taken prisoner and killed, b.c. 112. The tribune C. 

Memmins forces the Senate to declare war against Jugurtha ; and the con- 
sul Calpurnius Bestia is sent against him ; but he bribes Calpurnius to make 
peace, b.c. 111. Jugurtha is summoned to Rome, and obeys the summons. 
Memmius accuses, but another tribune, Bgebius, protects him, and he is allow- 
ed to depart, notwithstanding that he has contrived at Rome the murder of 
his kinsman, Massiva, on whom the Romans were about to confer his crown. 
War resumed, b.c. 110, by the consul Albinus, who, however, effects noth- 
ing. His brother, Aulus, succeeds to the command as pro-prajtor, b.c. 101), 
and, being defeated, makes a peace which the Senate refuses to confirm ; and 
the war is intrusted to Metellus, who takes Marius with him as his lieutenant. 
Metellus captures Cirta, B.C. 108, and most of the other cities; Jugurtha 
takes refuge at the court of the Mauretanian king, Bocchus. Marius, having 
gone to Rome, obtains the consulship, and is sent out, b.c. 107, to supersede 
Metellus. L. Cornelius Sulla is appointed his qua3stor. Marius twice de- 
feats Bocchus. Long negotiations follow, which Sulla conducts, and at last 
Bocchus consents to surrender Jugurtha, b.c. 106, who is led in triumph and 
then starved to death, b.c. 104. 

12. Before the war with Jugurtha was over, that with the 
Northern barbarians had begun. The Cimbri and Teutones 
cimbricrav- — Celts probably and Germans — issuing, as it 
ages. would Seem, from the tract beyond the Rhine 

and Danube, appeared suddenly in vast numbers in the re- 
gion between those streams and the Alps, ravaging it at 
their will, and from time to time threatening, and even 
crossing, the Roman frontier, and inflicting losses upon the 
Roman armies. The natives of the region especially subject 
to their ravages, in great part, joined them, especially the 
Amb rones, Tigurini, and Tectosages. As early as b.c. 113 a 
horde of Cimbri crossed the Alps and defeated the consul 
Cn. Papirius Carbo, in Istria. In b.c. 109, Cimbri appeared 
on the borders of Roman Gaul (Provence) and demanded 
lands. Opposed by the consul M. Junius Silanus, they at- 



PART I., PEK. v.] JUGURTHINE AND CIMBRIC WARS. 469 

tacked and defeated him; and from this time till b.c. 101 
the war raged almost continuously, Marius finally brmgmg 
it to a close by his victory near Vercellse in that year. 

Details of the Cimbric War. Defeat of Junius Silanus in Gaul, b.c. 
109. Of L. Cassius Longinus, b.c. 107. Great defeat of Q. Servilius C»- 
pio and Cn. Mallius in the same region, B.C. 105, Marius 
Cimbric War, ^^^^ consul, B.C. 104. The Cimbri invade Spain, and engage 
"■^' ' the Celtiberians, Avho after a while defeat them and compel them 

to recross the Pyrenees. Marius, meanwhile, with Sulla as his legate, organ- 
izes his army. First appearance of the Teutones upon the scene, b.c. 103— 
they join the Cimbri in Gaul, and arrange a combined attack on Italy, the 
Teutones undertaking to force their way through Provence and the Western 
passes, while the Cimbri eaitered Switzerland and sought the passes already 
known to them towards the East. Marius, who is re-elected consul year af- 
ter year, remains in Provence to resist the Teutones, while his colleague of 
the year b.c. 102, C. Lutatius Catulus, awaits the Cimbri in North Italy. 
Great victory of Marius over the Teutones and Ambrones near Aqu» Sextiie 
(Aix)— 150,000 slain and 90,000 made prisoners, b.c. 102. Invasion of It- 
aly by the Cimbri, b.c. 101. Defeat of Lutatius on the Athesis (Adige). 
The Cimbri ascend the valley of the Po, expecting to form a junction with 
the Teutones. They are met near Vercellie by the combined armies of Ma- 
rius and Lutatius, and suffer a complete defeat-UO,000 fall; 60,000 are 
made prisoners ; and the war is thus brought to a close. 

13. The victories of Aquae Sextiae and Yercellse raised 
Marius to a dangerous eminence. Never, since the first es- 
tablishment of the Republic, had a single citizen 
.SSomefna. SO far outshone all rivals. Had Marius possessed 
Snus! Bfo.' real statesmanship, he might have anticipated the 
101-100. ^^j.^ (jf Julius, and have imposed himself on the 

State as its permanent head. But, though sufiiciently ambi- 
tious, he wanted judgment and firmness. He had no clear 
and definite views, either of the exact position to which he 
aspired, or of the means whereby he was to attain to it. His 
course was marked by hesitation and indecision. Endeavor- 
ing to please all parties, he pleased none. At first allying 
himself with Glaucia and Saturninus, he gave his sanction to 
the long series of measures by which the latter — the first 
thorough Roman demagogue — sought to secure the favor of 
the lower orders. He encouraged the persecution of Metel- 
lus, and gladly saw him driven into exile, thus deeply ofiend- 
ing the senatorial party. But when the violence and reck- 
lessness of his allies had provoked an armed resistance and 
civil disturbances began, he shrank from boldly casting in 



470 HOME. [book v. 

his lot with the innovators, and, while attempting to screen, 
in fact sacrificed, his friends. 

Election of Marius to liis sixth consulship, b.c. 101. Saturninus seeks the 
tribunate, but is defeated by Nonius ; whereupon he has Nonius murdered 
and himself elected by a packed assembly in his place. He then, b.c. 100, 
brings forward the following measures : — (1) A law to assign extensive tracts 
of land in Cisalpine Gaul, and in Africa, to all those, whether Romans or 
Italians, who had served under Marius ; the amount which individuals were 
to receive being as much, in some instances, as J 00 jugers. (2) A law to 
plant large colonies in Sicily, Achaea, and Macedonia. (3) A law to supply 
the settlers with money from the public tionsury to enable them to stock 
their lands. Degradation of the Senate, which is required to sivear to the 
first law. Refusal of Metellus leads to his exile. Fourth law of Saturninus 
— to reduce the price of the corn annually distributed to Roman citizens (see 
p. 4G6) from 6| asses the modius to f of an as. Riots excited by the nobles 
prevent the passing of this law. Eresh riots at the consular elections. C. 
Memmius beaten to death by the partisans of Glaucia and Saturninus. The 
Senate declare Glaucia and Saturninus public enemies, who thereupon seize 
the Capitol. Hesitation of Marius ; he at last consents to act against them. 
They suri-ender, trusting to his protection. He endeavors to secure them a 
formal trial ; but the partisans of the Senate attack them in the Curia Hos- 
tilia, where Marius has confined them, and put them to death. 

14. The fall of Saturninus was followed, b.c. 99, by the re- 
call of Metellus from banishment, and the voluntary exile of 
Time of trail- ^^^^ haughty and now generally unpopular Mari- 
99-91^^'Re*'' ^^^' ^^^^^ great general but poor statesman re- 
newed troub- tired to Asia and visited the court of Mithridates. 
M.'Livius The triumph of his rival, though stained by the 
rusns. murder of another tribune, seemed for a time to 

have given peace to Rome ; but the period of tranquillity 
was not of long duration. In b.c. 91, M. Livius Drusus, the 
son of the Drusus who had opposed C. Gracchus, brought 
forward a set of measures which had for their object the 
reconcilement, at Rome, of the Senatorian with the Eques- 
trian Order, and, in Italy, of the claims of the Italians with 
those of the old citizens of Rome. There had now been for 
thirty years a struggle at Rome between the nobles and the 
bourgeoisie on the question of which of the two should fur- 
nish the judices (see p. 464) ; expectations had been also for 
about the same space of time held out to the Italians gen- 
erally that they would be accepted into full citizenshij). It 
was venturesome in Drusus to address himself at one and 
the same time to both these great questions. Successfully 



PART I., PER. v.] SOCIAL WAR. 471 

to grapple with them a man was required of first-rate pow- 
ers, one who could bend opposing classes to his will, and 
compel or induce them to accept, however reluctantly, the 
compromise which he considered just or expedient. Drusus 
seems to have possessed mere good intentions, combined 
with average ability. He carried his "lex de judiciis," but 
was unable to pass that extending the franchise. Once 
more the Roman conservatives had recourse to assassina- 
tion, and delayed a necessary reform by a bold use of the 
knife. Drusus was murdered before his year of office was 
out ; and the laws which he had passed were declared null 
and void by the government. 

The "Lex Sempronia judiciaria," which made the knights furnish the 
"judices," B.C. 123 (see p. 464), was repealed, b.c. 106, by a law of Q. Cm- 
pio Servilius, which restored their old right to the Senate. But this Ser\ il- 
ian law was set aside by that of the tribune C. Servilius Glaucia, b.c. 10 i, 
which recalled into force the Sempronian enactment. The compromise of 
Drusus placed the knights and the Senate on an equal footing. Three hun- 
dred knights elected by the order, were to form the panel together with three 
hundred senators. The repeal of this law restored to the knights the exclu- 
sive possession of the much-coveted privilege. 

15. The murder of Drusus drove the Italians to despair. 
Accustomed for many years to form an important element 
Social War, in the Roman armies, and long buoyed up with 
U.C. 90-88. hoj)es of obtaining the advantages of citizenship 
— the chief of which were lands, cheap corn, and the covert 
bribery of largesses — the tribes of Central and Southern Ita- 
ly, finding their champion murdered and their hopes dashed 
to the ground, flew to arms. Eight nations, chiefly of the 
Sabine stock, entered into close alliance, chose Corfinium in 
the Pelignian Apennines for their capital, and formed a fed- 
eral republic, to which they gave the name of " Italia." At 
the outset, great success attended the efibrt ; and it seemed 
as if Rome must have succumbed. Lucius Cgesar, one of the 
consuls, Perperna, one of his legates, and Postumius, the prse- 
tor, were defeated. The allies overran Campania, destroyed 
a consular army under Caepio, and entered into negotiations 
with tjie northern Italians, whose fidelity now wavered. 
But the sagacious policy of Rome changed the face of af- 
fairs, and secured her a triumph which she could not have 
accomplished by arms alone. The " Julian Law " conferred 
full citizenship both on such of the Italians as bad taken no 



472 ROME. [cooic V. 

part in the war liithcrto, the Etruscans, Umbrians, Sabines 
proper, Hernicaus, etc., and also on all such as upon the pas- 
sage of the law ceased to take part in it. By this proviso 
the revolt became disorganized; a'" peace party" was form- 
ed in the ranks of the allies ; nation after nation fell away 
from the league ; Rome gained successes in the field ; and at 
last, when only Samniimi and Lucania remained in arms, the 
policy of concession was once more adroitly used, and the 
"Lex Plotia," which granted all that the allies had ever 
claimed, put an end to the war. 

Details of the Social War. Formation of the League between the 
eight nations — viz., the Marsi, Marmcini, Pehgni, Vestini, Picentini, Sam- 
nites, Apuli, and Lncani, B.C. 90. Pompa^dius and Papius made " consuls." 
Great successes of the alHes. Revolt threatens to spread into North Italy. 
Passage of the "Lex Julia." Resistance of the allies slackens, b.c. 89. 
Sulla and the elder Pompey gain advantages. Campania recovered. Cor- 
finium taken. Passage of the "Lex Plotia." Submission of the Peligni 
and Vestini, u.c. 88 — then of the Marrucini and Marsi. Rebellion trampled 
out in Lucania and Samnium. 

16. The part taken by Marius in the Social War had re- 
dounded little to his credit. He had served as legate to the 
^ ,^ ,. . consul Rutilius, in the first disastrous year, and 

Exaltation of , ^ ^ ,. ^ ' , , ^ -,. «» t -^ 

Sulla. Jeai- had declmed battle when Pompsedius offered it. 
us?^Histr^" Probably his sympathies were with the revolters, 
umph, B.C. 88. ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^ desire to push them to extremi- 
ties. Sulla, on the other hand, had greatly increased his 
reputation by his campaigns of b.c. 89 and 88 ; and it was 
therefore natural that he should be selected by the Senate 
as the commander who Avas to undertake the war against 
Mithridates, which needed a first-rate general. But this se- 
lection deeply offended Marius, who had long regarded the 
conduct of that struggle as his due. Determined to displace 
his rival, or perhaps actuated by a less selfish motive, he 
suddenly undertook the open championship of the Italians, 
whose forced admission to the franchise the government was 
attempting to make a mockery by confining them, despite 
their large numbers, to some eight or ten tribes. At^his in- 
stigation, the tribune Sulpicius proposed and, by means of 
tumult, carried a law distributing the new voters through 
all the tribes, and thus giving them the complete control of 
the Comitia. At the same time, he enrolled in the tribes a 



PART I., PER. v.] SULLA AND M Alii L'S. 473 

large number ot freedmen. Comitia thus formed passed, as 
a matter of course, an enactment depriving Sulla of his post, 
and transferring the command to Marius, b.c. 88. 

1 7. The insulted consul was not prepared to submit to his 
adversary. Quitting Rome, he made an appeal to his le- 
Sniia takes up gions, and finding them ready to back his claims, 
flfs'lRoraVas 1^^ marchcd straight upon the capital The step 
a couqueror. gggms to have been a complete surprise to Mari- 
us, who had taken no j^recautions to meet it. In vain did 
the Roman people seek to defend their city from the hostile 
entrance of Roman troops under a Roman general. A threat 
of applying the torch to their houses quelled them. In vain 
Marius, collecting such forces as he could find, withstood his 
rival in the streets and at first repulsed him. The hasty lev- 
ies which alone he had been able to raise w^ere no match for 
the legionaries. The victory remained with Sulla ; and the 
defeated Marians were forced to seek safety in flight. 
Through a wonderful series of adventures, the late director 
of aiiairs at Rome, with his son, reached Africa an almost 
unattended fugitive. 

18. INIeantime, at Rome, the consul, confident in his armed 
strength, proscribed his adversaries, repealed the Sulpician 
He departs laws, put Sulpicius himsclf to death, and passed 
Reaction/* various measures faA^orable to the nobility. But 
cfnnaandMa- ^^^ could not remain permanently at the capital. 
rius, B.C. 8T. rpj^g affairs of the East called him away ; and no 
sooner w^as he gone than the flames of civil war burst out 
afresh. Cinna, raised to the consulate by the popular -par- 
ty, endeavored to restore the exiled Marius and to re-enact 
the laws of Sulpicius. But the aristocrats took arms. Cin- 
na, forced to fly, threw himself, like Sulla, upon the legion- 
aries, and having obtained their support, and also that of 
the Italians generally, while at the same time he invited 
Marius over from Africa, marched on Rome with his parti- 
sans. Again the city was taken, and this time was treat- 
ed like one conquered from an enemy. The friends of Sulla 
w^ere butchered; the houses of the rich plundered; and the 
honor of noble families put at the mercy of slaves. Prose- 
cutions of those who had escaped the massacre followed. 
Sulla was proscribed, and a reign of terror was inaugurated 
which lasted for several months. But the death of Marius, 



474 ROME. [book v. 

early iu b.c. 86, put a stop to tlie worst of tliese horrors, 
thoiio-li Rome remained for two years longer under a species 
of dictatorship, constitutional forms being suspended. 

Capture of Rome, b.c. 87. Marius and Cinna assume the consulship. 
Death of Marius, Jan. 13, B.C. 86. Cinna sole consul. Law of Valerius 
Flaccus reduces debts to one-third of their real amount. Cinna continues his 
consulship, and joins Avith himself Cn. Papirius Carbo, B.C. 85. Threatening 
attitude assumed by Sulla in the East. The .consuls determine to proceed 
against him, but the soldiers decline to engage in civil war, and murder Cin- 
na at Ancona. Carbo sole consul till B.C. 84, when Norbanus and L. Scipio 
are elected. Agrarian law proposed, and extension of the franchise to all 
who had served under Cinna or Marius. 

19. Meanwhile, in the East, Sulla had been victorious over 
Mithridates, had recovered Greece, Macedonia, and Asia Mi^ 
nor, crushed Fimbria, the Marian partisan, who 
diticWai"^" sought to deprive him of his laurels, collected 
JS.0.SS-S4. ^^^^^ sums of money, and, above all, brought a 
large Roman army to feel that devotion to his person which 
is easily inspired in soldiers by a successful general. It is 
creditable to Sulla that he at no moment allowed his private 
quarrels to interfere with the public interests, but postponed 
the rectification of his own wrongs until he had taken ample 
vengeance for those of his country. The peace of Dardanus 
was in the highest degree honorable to Rome and humilia- 
ting to Mithridates, who not only abandoned all his con- 
quests, but consented to a fine of 2000 talents and surren- 
dered his fleet. Having accomplished in five campaigns, 
conducted mainly from his private resources, all the objects 
of the war, Sulla could with propriety address himself to the 
settlement of his quarrel with the Marians, and having put 
down Fimbria in Asia, could make his arrangements for 
fighting out the civil struggle, which had long been inevita- 
ble, in Italy and at Rome itself. 

Details of the First Mithridatic War. Mithridates overruns Asia 
Minor, and defeats the Roman general. Ma. Aquillius. General massacre of 
the Romans in Asia, B.C. 88. Revolt of Athens, into which Mithridates 
throws a strong garrison, B.C. 87. Sulla lands in Epirus, with 50,000 men. 
Siege of Athens and Piraeus. Athens taken, March 1, b.c. 8G. The Mith- 
ridatic generals, Archelaiis and Taxilas, defeated at Chagroneia. Archelaiis 
and Dorylaiis defeated near Orchomenus. The Marian, Elaccus, sent to su- 
persede Sulla, is murdered by his legate, Fimbria, who leads his army across 
the Hellespont and engages Mithridates in Asia, b.c. 85. Victory of Fim- 
bria in Bithynia. Sulla detained in Europe by the resistance of Mithridates's 



PART I., PER. v.] FIRST CIVIL WAR. 475 

allies in Thrace. Victory of Lucullus over the Mithridatic fleet off Tenedos. 
Mithridates sues for peace. Peace agreed upon in a personal interview be- 
tween Sulla and Mithridates at Dardanus, B.C. 84. 

20. The determination of Sulla to return to Italy at the 
head of his army, and measure his strength against that of 
Return of Syi- the Marians, had been apparent from the moment 
83^;*^and Firs? when he declined to yield his command to Vale- 
CMi War. i-i^^s Flaccus, B.C. 86. The gage of battle had in 
fact been thrown down to him by his adversaries, when they 
declared him a public enemy, and he would have been more 
than human if he had not accepted it. He knew that the 
party of the nobles, whereof he was the representative, was 
still strong at Rome, and he felt that he could count on the 
army which he had now so often led to victory. The death 
of Marius had made him beyond dispute the first of living 
generals. There was none among the leaders of the oppo- 
site faction for whom he could feel much respect, unless it 
were the self-restrained and far from popular Sertorius. The 
strength of his adversaries lay in the Roman mob and in the 
Italians. For the former he had all a soldier's contempt ; 
but the latter he knew to be formidable. He therefore, with 
adroit policy, prefaced his return by a declaration that he 
"intended no interference with the rights of any citizen, new 
or old." The Italians accepted the j^ledge, and stood neutral 
during the opening scenes of the contest. 

History of the First Civil War. Sulla landed in Italy Avith no more 
than about 40,000 men. He Avas joined, hoAvever, almost immediately by 
Metellus Pius, by Crassus, and by Pompey. HaA-ing defeated the consul 
Norbanus near Capua, and seduced into his service the army of Scipio, the 
other consul, he passed the Avinter of B.C. 83 in Central Italy, Avhere he estab- 
lished the influence of his party. In b.c. 82 the Marians took the field Avith 
200,000 men under Carbo and the young Marius, the ncAv consuls. Carbo 
fixed his quarters at Clusium, in Etruria, Avhere the Marian cause AA^as popu- 
lar. Young Marius occupied the strong Latin city of Praneste. Sulla at- 
tacked his more youthful antagonist first. Having defeated him in the great 
battle of Angiportus, he shut him up in Proeneste, and passing through Rome, 
Avhich Avas undefended, he attacked Carbo in his intrenchments, but failed to 
effect any thing. MeauAvhile young Marius had made an appeal to the Lu- 
canians and the Samnites, and had prevailed on them to espouse his cause. 
But the gallantry of C. Pontius Telesinus and his brave Italians, Avas exerted 
in Aain. The Northern army Avas destroyed in detail by Carbo's unskillful- 
ness, and the last hopes of the Marians Avere ruined by the battle of the Col- 
line Gate, where Sulla and Crassus, after a desperate struggle, succeeded in 



476 ROME. [book v. 

defeating the remnants of Carbo's army i-einforced by the Italians under Tel- 
esinus. After the victory Sulla showed the stuff of which he was made by 
massacring in cold blood 6000 Samnite prisoners. 

21. The triumph of Sulla and the nobles was stamed by a 
murderous cruelty such as Rome had never yet witncvssed. 
Cruel severity "^^^ ^^^^J ^^^'® *^® leaders of the late war, and 
of Sulla after evcrv relation of Marius that could be found, put 

his victow. ' r^ 

He abdicates, to death, but at Rome the wealthy bourgeoisie, 
"■^*^^' and in the provinces the disaffected Italians, were 

slaughtered by thousands. The fatal "lists" of the "pro- 
scribed " began ; and numbers of wholly innocent persons 
were executed merely on account of their wealth. Nearly 
3000 are said to have perished at Rome, 12,000 at Prseneste, 
and numbers not much smaller at other Italian cities which 
had favored the Marians. The property of every victim 
was confiscated. Sulla remained lord of Rome, first with no 
title, then as "dictator," for the space of nearly three years, 
when he astonished the world by a voluntary abdication of 
power, a retirement to Puteoli, and a dedication of the re- 
mainder of his life to amusement and sensual pleasures. 
First, however, by his dictatorial power lie entirely reformed 
the Roman Constitution, depriving it of all elements of a 
popular character, and concentrating all power in the hands 
of the Senate. 

Internal Changes effected by Sulla. (1) Degradation of the trib- 
unate by the extinction of all its powers except tliat of protecting the per- 
sons of citizens against the other magistrates. (2) Sole right 
CoustituUou °^ initiating legislation given to the Senate. (3) The judicia 
placed once more in the hands of the Senate o\\\v. (4) Elec- 
tion to the high priestly offices of pontiffs and augurs abolished, and the prin- 
ciple of filling them up by " co-optation " re-established. (5) Restoration in 
a rigorous form of the "lex annalis," which required all candidates for high 
office to have passed through all the lower grades in a regular order, Avith 
fixed intervals of time between them. (6) Judicious measures against 
crimes — lex de sicariis, de veneftcns, etc. Besides these permanent enact- 
ments, Sulla, as dictator, undertook and effected a reconstruction of the Sen- 
ate, the Tribes, and the Centuries, which he aiTanged as he thought best. 
The Senate he filled up to the number of 300 from his own creatures. The 
Tribes he " purified " by rejecting all, Italians or others, who had taken part 
with the Marians in the late war, and giving the franchise to 10,000 emanci- 
pated slaves. . Of the Centuries he made out his own list, on what principles 
we are not told. He then submitted all his laws to the body which lie had 
thus constituted. Their acceptance was, it is plain, under the circumstances, 
a matter of course. 



PART I., rKK. v.] WAK WITH SEKTOKIUS. 4V7 

On the character and legislation of Sulla, the student may consult with 
advantage the work of 

Lau, Th., Cornelius Sulla, eine Biographie. Hamburg, 1855 ; 8vo. 

22. It was not to be expected that the violent changes 
introduced by Sulla into the Roman constitution could long 
Symptoms of I'emain unmodified. The popular party might be 
reaction. paralyzed by terror for a time; but it was sure 
to revive. The excesses of the nobles, now that their power 
was wholly unchecked, could not but provoke reaction. The 
very nobles themselves were scarcely likely to submit long 

to the restraints which the " lex annalis " placed 
Lepidus and upon their ambition. Accordingly, Ave find that 
siciniusfaii. j^^j^gjiately after Sulla's death, b.c. 78, an at- 
tempt was made by Lepidus, the consul, to rescind his laws 
and restore the former constitution. This attempt, it is 
true, failed, as being premature ; and so did the effort of the 
tribune Cn. Sicinius, in b.c. 76, to restore its powers to the 
tribunate. But, six years later, after the Sertorian and 
Gladiatorial Wars had been brought to an end and the 
strength of Mithridates broken, Sulla's constitution was 
wholly set aside, and the power of the nobles received a 
check from which it never subsequently recovered. 

23. The individual who had the greatest share in bringing 
about the reversal of Sulla's j'eforms rose into notice under 
Rise of Pom- Sulla himself, but acquired the influence which en- 
pey to power. c^\q^ \^\jn. to effect a great constitutional change in 
the wars which intervened between the years b.c. 77 and 70. 
Cn. Pompeius, whose father was a " new man" {novus homo), 
and who was thus only just within the pale of the nobility, 
secured for himself a certain consideration by the zeal with 
which he worked for Sulla. Having crushed the Marians in 
Sicily and Africa, and lent effectual aid to the consul Catu- 
lus against Lepidus, he was rewarded in b.c. 77 by being sent 
as proconsul to Spain, where Sertorius, recently one of the 
Marian leaders, had established an independent kingdom, and 
defied all the efforts of the aged Metellus to reduce him. 
Originally the object of Sertorius was to maintain himself 

in a position of antagonism to Rome by the 
torius, n.c. 79- swords of the Spaniards ; but when Perperna and 
'^^' the remnant of the Marian party fled to him, his 

views became enlarged, and he aspired to reinstate his parti- 



478 liOME, [book v. 

sans in anthority at Rome itself. He would probably have 
succeeded in this aim, had not Perperna, thinking that he 
had found an opportunity of supplanting him in the affec- 
tions of the Spaniards, removed him by assassination. The 
war was after this soon brought to a close, Perperna having 
neither Sertorius's genius for command nor his power of 
awakening personal attachment. 

Details of the Sertorian War. Flight of Sertorins from Italy to 
Spain, B.C. 83. He is expelled from Spain by C. Annius and crosses to Af- 
rica. At the invitation of the Lusitanians, he returns, B.C. 81, and, putting 
himself at their head, establishes a small independent kingdom. Metellus is 
sent against him, B.C. 79, but fails to effect any thing. By successiA-e victo- 
ries almost the whole peninsula is won from the Romans, A government is 
organized in which Spaniards and Romans share equally. Fei-perna joins 
Scrtorius with the remnant of the army of Lepidus, B.C. 77. Pompey sent 
to Spain as proconsul ; jealousy between him and Metellus. War continues 
Avith alternations of victory and defeat, B.C. 76 to 75. Sei'torius negotiates 
A.ith Mithridates, and aspires to impose his will on Rome. He becomes 
Inrsh to the Spaniards and addicts himself to the immoderate use of wine. 
Siege of Palencia, B.C. 74. Pompey retires Avith loss. Murder of Sertorius 
by Perperna, after the former had ordered the execution of the Spanish hos- 
tages, B.C. 72. Complete defeat of Perperna by Pompey, and end of the Avar 
within a fcAV Aveeks of Sertorius's death. 

24. Before the Sertorian war was ended, that of the Gladi- 
ators had broken out. Si3artacus, a Thracian chief, who had 
-^ ,^. been made prisoner and then forced to become a 

War of the i -,-,, ., -,.. 

Giaciiators,B.c. gladiator, persuaded those m the same condition 
as himself at Capua to rise against their tyrants. 
Joined by vast numbers of slaves and outlaws, he soon found 
himself at the head of 100,000 men. Four generals sent 
against him were defeated signally, and during two entire 
years he ravaged Italy at his will, and even threatened 
Rome itself. But intestine division showed itself in his 
ranks; his lieutenants grew jealous of him; and in b.c. 71, 
the war was committed to the praetor Crassus, who in six 
months brought it to a termination. Spartacus fell, fight- 
ing bravely, near Brundusium. His followers generally dis- 
persed; but a body of 5000, which kept together, forced its 
way through Italy and had nearly reached the Alps, when 
Pompey on his return from Spain fell in with it and destroy- 
ed it utterly. About the same time, Crassus crucified all 
those wliom he had made prisoners, amounting to 6000. 

25. The successful termination of these two important 



PART I., I'ER. v.] LAWS OF POMPEY AND CKASSUS. 470 

struggles exalted in the public esteem two men especially, 
Cousuiship of the rich and shrewd Crassus, and the bland, at- 
c?assuJ,u!a tractive, and thoroughly respectable Pompey. 
^^- To them the State had in its dangers committed 

itself; and they now claimed, not unnaturally, to be reward- 
ed for their services by the consulship. But the Sullasan 
constitution forbade their election ; and to elFect it the " lex 
annalis " had to be broken through. The breach thus made 
was rapidly enlarged. Though hitherto SuUa^ans, Pompey 
and Crassus had now, it would seem, become convinced, ei- 
ther that it was impossible to maintain a strictly oligarchi- 
cal constitution, or that such a constitution was not for their 
own personal interest. They had determined to throw them- 
selves upon tlie suj^port and sympathies of the Roman hour- 
geoisie^ or upper middle class, and resting upon this basis to 
defy the oligarchy. The moving spirit in the matter was, 
no doubt, Pompey, who easily persuaded his less clever col- 
league. Three measures were determined upon: — (l) The 
Their ie<^isia- I'Gstoration of the power of the tribunes, and the 
tiou. consequent resuscitation of the tribes ; (2) The 

transference of the judicia to a body of which one-third only 
should be furnished by the Senate, the knights furnishing 
one-third, and the remaining third being drawn from the 
Tribuni JErarii ; (3) A purification of the government from 
its grossest scandals, partly by prosecutions, as that of Ver- 
res, partly by a revival of the office of censor, which liad 
been suspended by Sulla. Despite a fierce opposition on. the 
part of the Senate, these measures were carried. The Senate 
was purged by the expulsion of sixty-four of its members. 
Verres Avas driven into exile. The control of the judicia was 
transferred from the nobles to the upper middle class. The 
paralysis of political life, wdiich Sulla's legislation had pro- 
duced, was terminated by the restoration of a double initia- 
tive, and the consequent rivalry betAveen two parties and 
two classes for the direction of the aifairs of the State. 

The accession of Cicero to the party of Pompey was an event of consider- 
able importance. It is doubtful whether any other orator could so thorough- 
ly and effectively have exposed the rottenness of the system upon which the 
provinces were administered ; and without such an exposure the Senatorial 
party would scarcely have suffered defeat. 

26. A pause now occurred in the career of Pompey, who 



480 ROME. [book v. 

took no province at the close of his consulship, apparently- 
contented with his achievements, or waiting till 
Pompey. somc great occasion should recall him to the serv- 

fnc? of Julius ice of the State. In this interval — b.c. 69 to 67 
c«sar. — ^ j^g^^ character appeared upon the scene. C. 

Julius Caesar, the nephew of Marius and son-in-law of Cinna, 
whom Sulla had spared in a moment of weariness or weak- 
ness, acting probably in concert with Crassus and Pompey, 
exhibited at the funeral of Julia, his own aunt and the wid- 
ow of Marius, the bust of that hero. At the same time, he 
pleaded the cause of his uncle, Cornelius Cinna, and obtained 
his recall, together with that of other Marian partisans. His 
wife, Cornelia, dying, he connected himself with Pompey by 
marriage. At this time the qusestorship, and soon after- 
wards the sedileship, were conferred upon him. The Pom- 
peians regarded him with favor as a useful, but scarcely 
dangerous, adherent ; the men of more advanced opinions 
already looked upon him as their leader, the chief who might, 
and probably would, give effect to their ideas. 

27. After two years of affected retirement, Pompey was 
once more, in b.c. 67, impatient for action. A danger had 
Pompey un- ^oug been growing up in the Eastern Mediterra- 
dertakesthe nean.which by this time had become an evil of 

war agaiust ' -^ 

the pirates. the first magnitude. The creeks and valleys of 
granted to Western Cilicia and Pamj)hylia (or Pisidia) had 
hira, B.C. 6 . f^^ii^i^ jj^^Q ^l^e hands of pirates, whose numerous 
fleets had continually increased in boldness, and who now 
ventured to plunder the coasts of Italy and intercept the 
corn-ships on which the food of Rome depended. Pomj^ey 
undertook the war against this foe, and the opportunity was 
seized by his creatures to invest him with a species of com- 
mand never before enjoyed, and dangerous as a precedent. 
He was given by the lex Gahinia authority over all the 
Mediterranean coasts, and over every city and territory 
within fifty miles of the sea-board, b.c. 67. These extraor- 
dinary powers were used quite unexceptionally ; Pompey 
applied them solely to the purposes of the war, which he 
began and ended in three months. 

First war with the pirates in Isauria (part of Pisidia), B.C. 75. Conducted 
with some success by the proconsul, Q. Sen'ilius — thence called Isauricus. 
Encouragement given to them by Mithridates. Appointment of M. Antonius 



PAKT I., FEB. v.] POMPEY AND C^SAR. 481 

to conduct the war, b.c. 75. lie attacks Crete, which has fallen into their 
jjower, but fails, and dies there. Q. Metellus is sent against Crete, b.c. 68, 
and reduces it to the form of a province. Gabinian law authorizes the Sen- 
ate to appoint a general with extraordinary powers, and is passed, notwith- 
standing the opposition of the nobles. Pompey appointed, u.c. G7. By the 
simultaneous movements of a number of squadrons, he obtains a complete 
success. 

28. The precedent set by the Gabinian law was soon fol- 
lowed. In B.C. 66 the tribune C. Manilius moved, and Cic- 
He concludes ero urged, that the entire command of the whole 
MuSates? East should be intrusted to Pompey for an indefi- 
B.0.65. jji^g term, " until he had brought the Mithridatic 
war to an end ;" and he once more set forth to employ his 
military talents for the advantage of his country. The Mith- 
ridatic war, conducted by Lucullus since b.c. 74, dragged on 
but slowly, partly in consequence of the aid given to Mithri- 
dates by Tigranes, partly owing to the economic measures 
of Lucullus himself, which alienated from him the affections 
of his soldiers. (See p. 333.) Pompey, by relaxing the strict 
rules of his predecessor, and by the politic device of an alli- 
ance with the Parthian king Phraates, terminated the war 
gloriously in the space of two years, driving Mithridates into 
the regions beyond the Caucasus, b.c. 65. 

For the details of the Third Mithridatic War, see pp. 333, 334. So long 
as Mithridates lived, the war was not regarded as wholly over. It might at 
any time have been rekindled. But the suicide of the aged monarch, in B.a 
63, consequent upon the rebellion of his son, removed the last fear of a ft-esh 
outbreak, and left Pompey af liberty to settle the East at his pleasure. 

29. After driving Mithridates beyond the Caucasus, Pom- 
pey proceeded to overrun and conquer the rest of Asia with- 
nis conquest in the Euphrates. He made himself master of 
PiStine^B^c. ^^^ kingdom of the Seleucidse without a blow, 
G4-G3. r^j^^ reduced it into a Roman province. He pro- 
ceeded through Coele-Syria to Judoea, besieged and took Je- 
rusalem, and entered the Holy of Holies. War with the 
Idumsean Arabs followed, but was interrupted by the death 
of Mithridates ; after which the Roman general, content with 
his gains, applied himself to the task of regulating and ar- 
ranging the conquered territory — a task which occupied him 
for the rest of the year. He then returned home in a tri- 
umphal progress, b.c. 62, and arrived at Rome early in 
B.C. 61. 

21 



482 KOME. [book v. 

• 
Besides Syria, Bithynia and Pontus were made Roman provinces. Phar- 
naces, the son of Mithridates, was allowed to retain the Crimea. Ariobar- 
zanes once more received Cappadocia. Deiotarns, pi-ince of Galatia, had his 
dominions extended. Hyrcanus was established as king of Judeea. 

30. Meanwliile at Rome, the State had incurred the dan- 
ger of subversion at the hands of a daring profligate. L. 

^ Serojius Catilina, a patrician of broken fortunes, 

Couspiracyof ^ I ^ . ' 

Catiline, u.c. a man representing no party unless it were that 
of the ruined spendthrifts and desperadoes Avith 
which Rome and Italy now abounded, having failed in an 
attempt to better his condition, by means of the consulate, 
with its reversionary province, b.c. 64, combined Avith others 
in a similar position to himself, and formed a plot to murder 
the consuls, seize Rome, and assume the government. Sup- 
port was expected, not only from the class of needy adven- 
turers, but from the discontented Italians, from the veterans 
of Sulla, eager for excitement and plunder, from the gladia- 
torial schools, from slaves and criminals, and from foreigners. 
The tacit aquiescence of the Marian party was counted on ; 
and Caesar, and even Crassus, were said to have been privy 
to the conspirators' designs. But the promptitude and ad- 
dress of Cicero, consul at the time, frustrated the scheme; 
and, after a short civil war, the danger was removed by the 
defeat of the rebels in Etruria, b.c. 62, and the death of the 
arch-conspirator. 

Pirst conspiracy of Catiline, B.C. 65, fails througb the death of Piso, Avho 
was to have supported it Avith his Spanish levies. Second conspiracy, b.c. 
63. Catiline, denounced by Cicero, quits Rome. Execution of Lentulus 
and Cethegus. Catiline defeated by the proconsul, Antonius, b.c. 62. Falls 
in the battle. 

31. In the absence of Pompey, the guidance of aifairs at 
Rome had been assumed chiefly by three men. These were 
Influence of ^^^^i Cicero, and Caesar. Crassus, who is some- 
Cato Cicero, times mentioned with them as a leader, was in 
Growing pow- reality too indolent and too Aveak in character to 

aesar. , -^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ account, and could only influence 
affairs by means of his enormous wealth. Cato, a descend- 
ant of the old censor, and a man of similar character, was 
at the head of the Senatorial party ; Caesar Avas the acknowl- 
edged chief of the Marians; Avhile Cicero held an intermedi- 
ate position, depending for his poAver almost wholly on his 



PART I., PER. v.] FIRST TRIUMVIRATE. 433 

unrivalled eloquence, and having the confidence of neither 
of the two great factions. Of the three, the one whose gen- 
ius was the greatest, and whose influence manifestly tended 
to preponderate, was Caesar. Though bankrupt in fortune, 
such was the adroitness of his conduct, and such the inherent 
strength of the principles with which he was identified, that 
at every turn of affairs he rose higher, and tended to become 
more and more manifestly the first man in the Republic. 
Entitled to assist in the administration of justice after his 
sedileship, he boldly condemned to death agents in the Syl- 
Igean assassinations; he defeated the chief of the Senate, Cat- 
ulus, in a contest for the oflice of Pontifex Maximus ; ac- 
cused of complicity in the conspiracy of Catiline, he forced 
Cicero to admit that, on the contrary, he had given the in- 
formation which led to its detection ; elected praetor in b.c. 
62, he bearded the Senate by the protection of Masintha, 
baflled their attempt to entangle him in a quarrel with the 
profligate Clodius, and finally, having obtained a loan of 830 
talents (£200,000) from Crassus, he assumed in b.c. 61 the 
government of the Farther Spain, where he comj^leted the 
conquest of Lusitania, and made himself the favorite of an 
important army. His star was clearly in the ascendant 
when Pompey, after an unwise delay in the East, at length 
returned to Rome soon after Coesar had quitted it. 

32. During his absence Pompey had become more and 
more an object of suspicion to the Senate ; and his own pro- 
Retmnof cccdiugs, as the time of his return approached, 
RoSe%.o?6i. ^^^^'^ ^^^^^^ calculated to insj^ire confidence. His 
^ITZJ^y''''' creature, Metellus Nepos, who arrived in Rome 
league of B.C. 62, was HI Constant communication with the 
sar, and' eras- Marian chief, Caesar, and proposed early in that 
sus,B.c.6o. yg^j. ^i^g recall of Pompey, with his army, to Ita- 
ly, and the assignment to him of all the powers of the State, 
for the purpose of concluding the Catilinarian war. The 
boldness of Cato baflled this insidious attempt ; and, when 
the proconsul returned in B.C. 61, it was with a studious ap- 
pearance of moderation and respect for the law. He dis- 
banded his troops as soon as he touched the soil of Italy, 
came to Rome accompanied by only a few friends, obtained 
the consent of the Senate to his triumph, claimed no extraor- 
dinary honors, and merely demanded allotments for his sol- 



484 ROME. [book v. 

diers and the ratification of liis Asiatic " acts," wliicli were 
all certainly within the terms of his commission. But the 
Senate had passed from undue alarm to undue contempt, and 
were pleased to thwart one whom they disliked and had so 
lately feared. Pompey's requests were refused — his " acts " 
were unconfirmed — and his veterans denied their promised 
allotments. Hereupon, Pompey accepted the overtures made 
to him by Caesar, w^ho efl:ected the private league or cabal 
known afterwards as the " First Triumvirate," between him- 
self, Pompey, and Crassus, the basis of which was understood 
to be antagonism to the Senatorial party, and the mainten- 
ance against all rivals of the triumvirs' power and influence. 

33. The formation of the triumvirate was immediately 
followed by the election of Caesar to the consulate, and the 
Consulship of passing, by means of tumult and violence, of a 
Cffisar, B.0. 59. imn;^|)ei. of laws for the advantage of the people. 
The first of these was an Agrarian Bill on an extensive 
scale, which provided for the veterans of Pompey, and at the 
same time gave estates in Campania to a large portion of the 
Roman populace. A second forced the Senate to swear to 
the Bill under penalty of death. A third relaxed the terms 
on which the knights were farming the revenues of Asia. 
At the close of a consulate which was almost a dictator- 
ship, Coesar obtained for himself the government of the two 
Gauls and of Illyricum for a space of five years, thus secur- 
ing himself a wide field for the exercise of his military tal- 
ents, and obtaining the opportunity of forming a powerful 
army devoted wholly to his interests. 

The bonds between the two chief triumvirs were drawn tighter by the 
marriage of Pompey to Julia, the daughter of Crosar. Cajsarat the same 
time married Calpurnia, the daughter of L. Calpurnius Piso. 

34. The triumvirs could not count on the firm establish- 
ment of their power, so long as the two party-leaders, Cicero 
Exile of cice- ^^^^ Cato, maintained unimpaired their high and 
ro, B.C.58. dignified position. Accordingly, they set them- 
selves through their creatures at once to remove from the 
seat of government these two statesmen, and to cast a per- 
manent slur upon their characters. The tribune Clodius 
drove Cicero into banishment on the charge of his having 
acted illegally in putting to death Lentulus and Cethegus. 
The great orator's property was confiscated, and his houses 



PART i.,rER. v.] MEASURES OF CLODIUS. 485 

were demolished. As against Cato no plausible charge 
Catosentto could bc made, his removal was effected by 
Cyprus. thrusting upon him an unwelcome commission 

which was likely to bring odium on those engaged in it. 
He was sent to deprive Ptolemy of his kingdom of Cyprus 
on pretexts utterly frivolous, and to convert that island into 
a Koman province. Though Cato conducted himself with 
skill and with unimpeachable integrity in this delicate trans- 
action, yet the decline of his influence may be dated from his 
acceptance of an office unsuited to his character. 

35. On Cicero the blow dealt by the triumvirs fell even 
more heavily. Though recalled from banishment within 
eighteen montlis of his quitting Italy, he never recovered his 
former position either in the opinion of others or in his own. 
Constitutionally timid, his exile effectually cowed him. He 
lost all confidence in the gratitude of his countrymen, in the 
afiection of his friends, in his own firmness and prudence. 
Henceforth he no longer aspired to direct the counsels of the 
State : his efforts were limited to moderating the violence 
of parties and securing his own personal safety by paying 
court to those in powei*. Towards the close of his career, 
indeed, he ventured once more to take a bolder attitude, but 
it was Avhen the star of Antony was beginning to pale be- 
fore the rise of a brighter luminary. 

In the Letters and Orations of Cicero Ave have by far the most important 
contributions to tlie history of the period betAveen SuHa and Augustus, Avhich 
the ravages of time have spared to us. The best Avorks on the Hfc and char- 
acter of the great orator are — 

Middleton's Life of Cicero. London, 1823 ; 2 vols. 8vo. Not super- 
seded by any later publication. 

WiELAND, Sdmmtliche Briefe des Cicero. Zurich, 1808 et seqq. ; 7 vols. 
8vo. ' 

Merivale, ReA'. C, Life and Letters of Cicero. London, 1854 ; 8vo. 

36. The tribune Clodius, who had moved and carried the 
measures by which Cicero and Cato were forced to quit 
^ „ fr'- Kome, was not content to be a mere tool in the 

Recall of Lie- ' 

ero, IS.0.57; hands of the triumvirs. His measures for the 

aud prosecu- . -,..,. „ »,,... 

tionofcio- gratuitous distribution of corn, for the limitation 

of the censors' powers over the Senate, and for 

the re-establishment of the guilds, were probably concerted 

with Pompey; but it was not long before he exhUbited an 



486 ROME. [book v. 

independent spirit, outraged his protector, and stood forward 
as a separate party-leader of the more violent kind. Pora- 
pey was thus forced to incline for a while towards the Sena- 
torians, to encourage the recall of Cicero, and to allow the 
prosecution of Clodius. It Avas the hope of the triumvir 
that affairs would fall into such a condition as manifestly to 
require a dictator, and that he would be selected for the of- 
fice. But the Senate's vigor was not yet exhausted ; it was 
content to reward Pom^Dey by a new commissionership (the 
proefectura muionce) ; to oppose its own " bravo," Milo, to 
Clodius ; and to foment discord between Pompey and Cras- 
sus, who naturally tended to become more and more jealous 
of each other. 

37. Civil war would probably at this time have broken 
out, had it not been for the management of Caesar. At in- 
terviews which he held with Crassus and Pompey 

FrGsn iinuGr- 

standing be- at Ravcuna and Lucca, he succeeded in bringing 

tvveen the tri- . •■ , ^ j • • i ^ 

iimvirs, B.O. them to an agreement, and m arrangmg plans lor 
^^' the further aggrandizement both of himself and 

them. He urged them to seek the consulate for the ensu- 
ing year, and to obtain for themselves such governments as 
suited them at its close. For himself he required the pro- 
longation of his proconsulship for a second term of five 
years. Within this period he could hope to have gained 
such successes as would dazzle the eyes of the Romans at 
home, and to have acquired unbounded influence over the 
veteran army, which would have then served ten years un- 
der his banner. 

38. The Second Consulate of Pompey and Crassus, b.c. 55, 
brought about by violence and tumult, was a further step 
Second Con- towards the demoralization of the State, but pro- 
suiateofPom- cluccd a temporary lull in the strife of parties. 

pey audCras- , . ^ J . . ^ . . ,^ ^. 

SUP, n.o.55. ihe truimvu'S severally obtanied then* immedi- 
by' the Par- ate objccts. Despite the efforts of Cato, Caesar 
thiaus. ^^^^ assigned the Gauls for an additional term of 

five years. Pompey received the Spains for an equal period, 
while the rich East was made over to the avaricious Cras- 
sus, who became proconsul of Syria and commander-in-chief 
of the Roman forces in the Oriental provinces. Pompey, 
moreover, managed to establish the new principle of combin- 
ing the administration of a province with residence in the 



PAUT I., PKK. V.J AMBITION OF POMPEY. 487 

capital. Under the pretext that his office of " prasfectus an- 
nonae " required his presence at Rome, he administered Spain 
by his legates, and, in the absence of Crassus, acquired the 
sole direction of affairs at the seat of empire. This position 
was still further secured to him by the death of Crassus in 
his rash expedition against the Parthians, b.c. 53. 

Departure of Crassus for the East, b.c. 55, He invades Mesopotamia, 
B.C. 54, and takes some unimportant towns, but returns into Syria for the 
winter. Second invasion, B.C. * 53. Crassus completely defeated in the 
country between the Belik and the Khabour, and soon afterwards treacher- 
ously seized by the Parthian general at a conference, and, in the tumult 
which ensued, slain. 

39. The death of Crassus, by reducing the triumvirate to 
a duumvirate, precipitated the struggle which had been long 
Ambition of in^pending. The tie of relationship which united 
Pompey. He Pompev and Caesar had been dissolved by the 

forces Caesar ^•'. at it t-» 

to a rapture, death of Julia, B.C. 54. Another check on Fom- 
pey's ambition was removed by the murder of 
Clodius in an affray with Milo, b.c. 53. After this Pompey 
apparently thought that the time was at length come when, 
if Caesar could be disgraced, the State must fall wholly into 
his hands. He therefore encouraged the proposals that were 
made by the extreme aristocrats to deprive Caesar prema- 
turely of his proconsular office, or at any rate to prevent him 
from suing for the consulship until he had ceased to be the 
lord of legions. After himself holding the office of sole con- 
sul for the space of six months, b.c. 52, and obtaining the pro- 
longation of his own proconsulship for a further term of live 
years, he sought to reduce his partner and rival to the mere 
rank of an ordinary citizen. It was not to be supposed that 
Caesar would consent to this change, a change which would 
have placed his very life at his enemies' mercy. War was 
certain from the moment when, in spite of the veto of two 
tribunes, the Senate, at Pompey's instigation, appointed Cae- 
sar's successor, and required him, before standing for the con- 
sulate, to resign his proconsular command. Caesar would 
have lost all at which he had aimed for ten years, had he 
yielded obedience to this mandate. To expect him to do so 
was to look for antique self-denial and patriotism in an age 
when these virtues had been long out of date, and in an in- 
dividual who had never shown any signs of them. 



488 ROME. [book v. 

Campaigns or C.esak between b.c. 58 and b.c. 50. Great migration of 
the Helvetii from SAvitzerland to Central Gaul, b.c. 58. They are pursued 
by Caisar, defeated in two battles, and forced to return. Campaign against 
the German chief, Ariovistus ; the Suevi are driven across the Rhine. Con- 
quest of Gallia Belgica, and submission of Northern Aquitania, b.c. 57. 
Galba, sent to occupy the Rhone valley above the Lake of Geneva, is defeat- 
ed and forced to retire. Great revolt of the Veneti and other tribes in 
Aquitania, B.C. 56. The Veneti receive help from Britain, but are shortly 
reduced to subjection. Southern Aquitania reduced by P. Crassus. Fresh 
invasion of Gaul by German tribes, b.c 55. Ciesar defeats them, drives 
them across the Rhine, and carries the war into Germany, proper by a raid 
across the Rhine. Later in the same year he invades Britain, and receives 
the submission of some chiefs, but loses most of his fleet by a storm. Sec- 
ond invasion of Britain, b.c 54. Defeat of Cassevelaun, and nominal sub- 
jection of his kingdom to a small tribute. Revolt breaks out in Gaul, but is 
suppressed. Destruction of the Eburones, b.c 53. Gaul continues unset- 
tled. Great rebellion under Vercingetorix, B.C. 52. Caisar defeated at Ger- 
govia. Danger of his position. Vercingetorix rashly offers battle, is defeat- 
ed, blockaded in his fortified camp, and forced to surrender. Last remnants 
of the rebellion trampled out, b.c 51. 

40. On hearing of the Senatorial decrees, the resolve of 
Caesar was soon taken. He would appeal to the arbitrament 
Second Civil of arms. At the head of a veteran army devoted 
^!^^m\ghto( to his person, with all the resources of Gaul to 
Pompey. draw upon, and endeared to the Italians general- 

ly as 'the successor of Marius, he felt himself more than a 
match for Pompey and the Senate*, and was ready to engage 
any force that they could bring against him. Accordingly 
he "crossed the Rubicon," and began his march upon Rome. 
Pompey had probably expected this movement, and had de- 
termined upon the line of conduct which he would pursue. 
He would not attempt to defend Italy, but would retire 
upon the East. In that scene of his old glories he would 
draw together a power sufficient, not only to secure him 
against his rival, but to re-enter and re-conquer Italy. He 
would drag the Senate with him, and having carried it be- 
yond the seas, would be its master instead of its slave. Hav- 
ing the command of the sea, he would coop up his rival in 
Italy, until the time came when his land forces were ready 
to swoop down upon their prey. With these views he re- 
tired as Caesar advanced, making only a show of resistance, 
and finally crossed from Brundisium to Epirus without fight- 
ing a battle. 



PART I., PER. v.] SUCCESS OF CiESAR. 489 

41. By the retirement of Pompey, all Italy was thrown 
into Caesar's arms. He acquired the immense moral advan- 
Cffisar master tage of holding the seat of government, and of 
of Italy. being thus able to impart to all his acts the color 

of legitimacy. He secured also important material gains ; 
first, in the acquisition of the State-treasure, which Pompey 
most unaccountably neglected to carry off; and, further, in 
the power which he obtained of draAving recruits from the 
Italian nations, who still furnished their best soldiers to the 
Roman armies. The submission of Italy drew with it almost 
of necessity that of Sardinia and Sicily ; and thus the power 
of the proconsul was at once established over the entire mid- 
dle region of the Empire, reaching from the German Ocean 
to'the Sea of Africa, and from the Pyrenees to Mount Scar- 
dus. Pompey possessed the East, Africa, and Spain ; and, 
had his counsels been inspired with energy and decision, he 
might perhaps have advanced from three sides on his rival, 
and have crushed him between the masses of three converg- 
ing armies. But the conqueror of Mithridates was now old, 
and had lost the vigor and promptitude of his early years. 
He allowed Caesar, acting from a central position, to strike 
He takes the Separately at the different points of his extended 
offensive ev- line. First, Spain was attacked, and, for the time, 

erywhere, and ' % „ . ' ' ' 

is everywhere rcduccd to suojcction ; then, the war was trans- 
vic ouous. fei-i-ed to the East, and its issue (practically) de- 
cided at Pharsalia ; after this, the Pompeians were crushed 
in Africa; and finally, the party having rallied in Spain, was 
overwhelmed and blotted out at Munda. These four Avars 
occupied the great soldier during the chief portion of five 
years (b.c. 49 to 45) ; in the course of which, however, he 
found time also to reduce Egypt, and to chastise Pharnaces, 
son of Mithridates, at Zela. 

Details op Cesar's Wars between e.g. 49 and b.c. 45. (a) First 
War in Spain. March of Caesar through Gaul to the Pyrenees, b.c. 49. 
Siege of Massilia, which declares for Pompey. Caesar encounters the Pora- 
peian forces under Afranius and Petreius at Ilerda (Lerida). After suffer- 
ing one defeat, he outmanoeuvres his opponents, and forces them to sun*ender 
themselves. Terentius Varro in Southern Spain, after vacillating between 
the two causes, declares against Caesar, but is deserted by his soldiers and 
capitulates. Soon afterwards Massiha is taken. Defeat of Cesar's lieu- 
tenant. Curio, in Africa, and destruction of his ainny by the Pompeians and 
Juba. (6) Wak in the Hellenic Peninsula. Caesar, through the neg- 

21* 



490 EOME. [book v. 

ligence of the Fompeian admirals, crosses the Adriatic unopposed, January, 
B.C. 48. Pompey meets him at Dyrrhachium, but dechnes a battle, intrencli- 
ing himself, so as to cover the town. Csesav blockades his position, but Pom- 
pey, after watching patiently for his opportunity, breaks up tlie blockade and 
gains a A'ictory over the Cajsarean army. This success ruined his cause. It 
rendered his officers unmanageable, and forced him to give the Ccesareans 
battle at Pharsalia, in an open plain, where the superiority of Caesar's troops, 
and the better generalship of their commander, led to the complete defeat of 
the grand army on which rested all Pompey's hopes of final triumph. Had 
lie possessed more resolution, he might no doubt have prolonged the contest, 
as his party did, even after his death ; but, however he had acted, it is scarce- 
ly possible that he could have retrieved liis signal defeat. His choice cf 
Egypt as a refuge Avas, as the event proved, ill-judged ; but the treachery lo 
which he fell a victim could scarcely have been anticipated, and we can un- 
derstand, even if we can not justify, his reluctance to quit the East, (c) 
War in Egypt. The necessity of following up his adversary, and striking, 
if it were necessary, a last blow, drew Caisar to Egypt, where he found him- 
Belf in a most critical position. He landed with a force not exceeding 4000 
men, and, being ensnared by the charms of Cleopatra, was soon regarded 
with jealousy by the young khig, her brother and rival, while the hatred with 
which the Egyptians generally viewed foreign interference with their con- 
cerns was easily roused against him by the king's ministers. Quarrels and 
street fights between his soldiers and the Alexandrians gave liim a pretext 
for assuming a hostile attitude. Accordingly he seized and fortified the 
l*haros, burnt the Egyptian fleet, and sent hastily for reinforcements. The 
Egyptians on their side blockaded him in the Pharos, cut oft" his supplies of 
water, and endeavored to starve him into submission. But the advance of 
Mithridates of Pergamus (b.c. 47) relieved the Roman general; and the 
Egyptian army, placed between two fires, was speedily defeated and destroy- 
ed. The young king perished ; and Casar was able to arrange matters to 
the satisfaction of all parties by investing Cleopatra, under certain conditions 
(see p. 283), with the actual sole government, (d) War with Pharnaces. 
The dissensions of the Romans among themselves encouraged the son of 
Mithridates to attempt the recovery of his father's empire. Immediately 
after the battle of Pharsalia, he advanced into Lesser Armenia and Cappa- 
docia. Opposed by Calvinus, one of Caesar's lieutenants, he defeated him 
in a pitched battle and destroyed his army. He then occupied Pontus. 
Caasar, who was at this time blockaded in Egypt, could do nothing ; but no 
sooner was he released, than he marched Avith all speed to encounter this 
new enemy. The hosts met at Zela in Pontus, and CjBsar was as usual vic- 
torious. The laconic bulletin, " Veni, vidi, vici," expressed the rapidity of 
his conquest. Pharnaces escaped from the battle, but was soon afterwards 
killed, and his kingdom served to reward Mithridates of Pergamus. (e) 
War in Africa. The Pompeians who escaped from Pharsalia established 
themselves in the Roman province of Af)'ica, where they had the support of 
Juba, the king of Numidia. They were commanded by Scipio, the father of 
Pompey's widow, Cato, and Varus, proconsul of the province. Much jeal- 
ousy existed among the commanders. Coesar landed in Africa in Decem- 
ber, B.C. 47. In his first engagement near Leptis he was worsted ; but 



PART I., PER. v.] C^SAR AS A STATESMAN. 49 1 

early in B.C. 46 he redeemed this mischance by the great victory of Thapsus, 
which destroyed the republican force in this quarter. Scipio, Cato, and Juba 
killed themselves ; and Africa submitted to the conqueror. (/) Second 
War in Spain. Revolt fii-st broke out in Spain among the Caesarean le- 
gionaries, who were seduced by the republican spirit which prevailed among 
the Romanized natives. The revolters received important accessions to their 
ranks after the battle of Thapsus, being reinforced by the remnants of the 
African army. Varus, Labienus, and the two sons of Pompey, Cnseus and 
Sextus, joined them ; and Cn. Pompeius was intrusted with the chief com- 
mand. A vigorous stand was made against the troops which Ceesar led in 
person across the Pyrenees ; and in the final battle, which took place at 
Munda (March, B.C. 45), the dictator was in greater personal danger than 
ever before. But the victory when gained was complete. Thirty thousand 
Pompeians were left on the field ; among them Labienus and Varus. Cn. 
Pompeius fled, but was overtaken and slain. Sextus alone escaped, and 
found a refuge Avith some of the hill tribes, who defied the Roman arms. 
The settlement of Spain after the battle of Munda was a work of difficulty, 
and occupied the dictator for nearly six months. 

42. The claim of Csesar to be considered one of the world's 
greatest men rests less upon his military exploits, important 
Cjesar'^ civil ^^ these Undoubtedly were, than upon his views 
acimiuistra- and efforts as a statesman and social reformer. 
It was his great merit that he understood how 
the time for the Republic had gone by; how nothing but 
constant anarchy at home and constant oj^pression abroad 
could result from the continuance of that governmental form 
under which Rome had flourished so w^onderfully in simpler 
and ruder ages. He saw distinctly that the hour had ar- 
rived for monarchy ; that, for the interests of all classes, of 
the provincials, of the Italians, of the Romans, of the very 
nobles themselves, a permanent supreme ruler w^as required ; 
and the only man fit at the time to exercise that oftice of su- 
preme ruler he knew to be himself He knew, too, though 
perhaps he failed to estimate aright, the Roman attachment 
to old forms, and he therefore assumed, in b.c. 47, the perpet- 
ual " dictatorship," whereby he reconciled the actual estab- 
lishment of an absolute monarchy with the constitutional 
purism which had weight with so many of his contempora- 
ries. Having thus secured the substance of power, he pro- 
ceeded, even in the midst of his constant wars, to bring for- 
ward a series of measures, which were, in most cases, at once 
moderate, judicious, and popular. He enlarged the Senate 
to the number of 90Q, and filled up its ranks from the pro- 



492 ROME. [book v. 

viucials no less than from the class of Roman citizens. He 
once more confined the judicia to the senators and equites. 
He raised to the rank of citizens the entire population of 
Transpadane Gaul, and numerous communities in Gaul be- 
yond the Alps, in Spain, and elsewhere. He enfranchised all 
professors of the liberal sciences. He put down the political 
clubs. He gave his veterans lands, chiefly beyond the seas, 
planting them, among other places, at Corinth and Carthage, 
cities which he did not fear to rebuild. He arranged mat- 
ters between the two classes of debtors and creditors on a 
principle which left financial honesty untouched. He re-en- 
acted the old Licinian law, which required the employment 
of free labor on estates in Italy in a certain fixed proportion 
to the number of slaves. He encouraged an increase in the 
free population by granting exemptions to those w^ho had as 
many as three children. He proposed the codification of the 
laws, commenced a survey of the empire, and reformed the 
calendar. When it is remembered that Caesar only held 
power for the space of about five years, and that the greater 
portion of this period w^as occupied by a series of most im- 
portant wars, such legislative prolificness, such well-planned, 
varied, and (in some cases) most comprehensive schemes, can 
not but provoke our admiration. 

43. But the dictator, though endued with political insight 
far beyond any of his contemporaries, was, after all, only 
a fallible mortal. He may neither have been 
March 'i5,'b.o. wholly Corrupted by his passion for Cleopatra, 
'^^' nor so much intoxicated by the possession of su- 

preme power as to have w^antonly disregarded the prejudices 
which stood in the way of his ambition. But at any rate he 
misjudged the temper of the people among whom his lot was 
cast, when, because his own logical mind saw that monarchy 
was inevitable, he encouraged its open proclamation, without 
making sufficient allow^ance for the attachment of large class- 
es of the nation to phrases. Pie thus provoked the conspir- 
acy to which he fell a victim, and can not be exonerated 
from the charge of having contributed to his own downfall. 
The conspiracy against the life of J. Caesar, formed by Bru- 
tus and Cassius, found so many abettors, not from the mere 
blind envy of the nobles towards a superior, but because 
there was in sprained into the Roman mind a detestation of 



PART I., PER. v.] DEATH OF C^SAR. 493 

royalty. The event proved that this prejudice might be 
overcome, in course of time, by adroit management ; but 
Cgesar boldly and without disguise affronted the feeling, not 
aware, as it would seem, of the danger he was incurring. 
His death, March 15, b.c. 54, introduced another period of 
bloody struggle and civil war, which lasted until the great 
victory gained by Octavius at Actium, b.c. 31. 

The biography of Julius Caesar has been a favorite subject with historians ; 
but it can scarcely be said that any "Life" yet published is thoroughly satis- 
factory. Among those which demand notice are the following : 

Celsus, Jul., De Vita et Rebus gestis J. Ccesaris. London, 1G97: 8vo. 

De Bury, Histoire de la Vie de Jules Cesar. Paris, 1758 ; 2 vols. 8vo. 

Meissner, a. G.. Leben Co^sar's^ continued by Haken, J. C. L. Berlin, 
1811 ; in four parts. 

Napoleon, Louis, Histoire de Jules Cesar. Paris, first volume publish- 
ed in 1865 ; second A'olume in 1866. The second volume ends with the 
passage of the Rubicon and entrance into Italy. A work written with the 
mere view of justifying a modern usurpation can scarcely be expected to be 
impartial. 

44. The knot of enthusiasts and malcontents, who had ven- 
tured on the revolutionary measure of assassinating the chief 
Weaknessand of the State, had made no adequate provision for 
thf co^nspira- what was to follow. Apparently, they had hoped 
power ?eM ^^^^ ^^^^ the Senate and the people would unite 
by Antony. ^q applaud their deed, and would joyfully hasten 
to re-establish the old republican government. But the gen- 
eral feeling which their act aroused was not one of rejoicing, 
but of consternation. The noble and rich feared the recur- 
rence of a period of lawlessness and anarchy. The poorer 
classes, who were indifferent as to the form of the govern- 
ment, provided it fed and amused them, looked coldly on the 
men who, merely on account of a name, had plunged the 
State into fresh troubles. The numerous class of those who 
had benefited by Caesar's legislation trembled lest his mur- 
der should be followed by the abrogation of his laws. None 
knew what to expect next — whether proscription, civil war, 
or massacre. Had the conspirators possessed among them a 
commanding mind, had they had a programme prepared, and 
had they promptly acted on it, the Republic might perhaps 
have been galvanized into fresh life, and the final establish- 
ment of despotism might have been deferred, if it could not 
be averted. But at the exact time when resolution and 



494 ROME. [book v. 

quick action were needed, they hesitated and procrastinated. 
Their remissness gave the sole consul, Antony, an opportu- 
nity of which he was not slow to avail himself. Having 
secured the co-operation of Lepidus, Caesar's master of the 
horse, who alone had an armed force on the spot, he pos- 
sessed himself of the treasures and papers of the dictator, 
entered into negotiations with the " Liberators," and while 
professedly recognizing the legitimate authority of the Sen- 
ate, contrived in a short time to obtain the substance of su- 
preme power for himself. His colleague, Dolabella, elected 
consul in the place of Caesar, became his tool. The " Libera- 
tors," fearful for their personal safety, desj^ite the " amnes- 
ty " whereto all had agreed, quitted Rome and threw them- 
selves upon the provinces. Antony was on the point of ob- 
taining all that his heart desired, when the claims and pro- 
ceedings of a youth — almost a boy — who unexpectedly ap- 
peared upon the scene, introduced fresh complications, and, 
checking Antony in mid-career, rendered it doubtful for a 
while whether he would not fall as suddenly as he had risen. 
45. C. Octavius, the youthful rival of Antony, was the 
grand-nephew of J. Caesar, being the grandson of his sister, 
Arrival of oc- Julia. He had enjoyed for several years a large 
thrsceue!^'iie portion of the dictator's favor, and in his last 
itlTgSSs?"' testament had been named as his chief heir and 
Antouy. gQ^ by adoption. Absent from Rome at the date 

of Caesar's murder, he lost no time in proceeding to the capi- 
tal, claiming the rights and accepting the obligations which 
devolved on him as Caesar's heir. With consummate adroit- 
ness he contrived to gain the good-will of all parties. The 
soldiers were brought to see in him the true representative 
of their loved and lost commander; the populace was won 
by shows, by stirring appeals, by the payment of Caesar's 
legacy to them out of his own private resources ; the Liber- 
ators, and especially Cicero, who had made common cause 
with them, were cajoled into believing that he had no per- 
sonal ambition, and only sought to defeat the selfish designs 
of Antony. Even with Antony there was established, we 
can not say how early, an understanding, that the quarrel 
between the two Caesareans was not to be pushed d Vou- 
trance^ but was to be prosecuted as between enemies who 
might one day be friends. Thus guarded on all sides, Octa- 



PART I., PER. v.] THIRD CIVIL WAR. 495 

viiis ventured, though absolutely without office, to collect an 
army, which he paid out of his own resources, and to take 
up a position, from which he might either defend or threaten 
Rome. Encouraged by his proceedings, Cicero re-entered 
the political arena, and took up the attitude against Antony 
which had been successful against Catiline. By the scries 
of speeches and pamphlets known as " the Pliiiippics," he 
crushed the popularity of the proconsul, drove him from 
Rome, and freed the Senate from his influence. Antony re- 
tired to his province of Cisalpine Gaul, and there commenced 
the Third Civil War by besieging Decimus Brutus, the pre- 
vious governor, in Mutina. Hereupon the Senate bade the 
new consuls, Hirtius and Pansa, to act against him, and, at 
Cicero's instance, invested the young Octavius with the prir3- 
torship, and joined him in the command with the consuls. 

46. The short war known as the " Bellum Mutinense" fv>l- 
lowed. In two battles, one at Forum Gallorum, the other 
Third Civil under the walls of Mutina, Antony's troops were 
War com- defeated by the army of the Senate, and he him- 

mences with . . 

the'/Beihun self, dcspairinj^ of present success, crossed the 

Mutinense .... 

n.c. 44-43. ' Alps to joiu Lcpidus in Gaul. But the two vic- 
coniYsmaster tories were dearly won, at the cost of two most 
of Rome. important lives. Hirtius and Pansa, the two hon- 
est consuls, both fell ; and Octavius, finding himself the sole 
commander, was encouraged to put aside his reserve and 
show himself in his true colors. He refused to join Decimus 
Brutus in the pursuit of Antony, and thus aided the latter's 
escape. He claimed the whole merit of the war, and boldly 
demanded a triumph ; finally, he sent a detachment of his 
soldiers to Rome, to demand the consulship for him ; when 
the Senate, alarmed at his attitude, refused these requests, he 
at once threw off the mask, marched with all his troops on 
Rome, plundering as he advanced, and at the head of his le- 
gions imposed his will on the government. Possessed of su- 
preme power, it pleased him to assume the title of consul, 
and to give himself, as a nominal colleague in the office, his 
cousin, Q. Pedius. 

The Mutine War began in December, B.C. 44. It terminated with the 
battle of Mutina, April 14, b.c. 43. Octavius and Pedius were proclaimed 
consuls, September 22 of the same year. 

47. It was the policy of Octavius to secure for all his acts, 



496 ROME. [book v. 

SO far as he possibly could, legal sanctions. He now, there- 
Formation of foi*e, required and obtained the confirmation of 
TRiS?iKrTE, J^is adoption. Determined to proceed to extrem- 
1J.C.43. ities against the "Liberators," he had them at- 

tainted, and, as they had all fled from Rome upon his en- 
trance, condemned in their absence. A similar sentence was, 
at his instance, passed on Sext. Pompeius. Octavius was 
made generalissimo of all the forces of the Republic, and was 
authorized to act against, or, if it pleased him better, treat 
with, Antony and Lepidus. It was on this latter course that 
he had long before decided. Only by the aid of Antony 
could he hope to triumph over Cassius and the Bruti, whose 
party in the West was in no wise contemptible, and who had 
all the resources of the East at their disposal. Accordingly, 
Antony and Lepidus were invited to confer with Octavius 
on an island in the river Reno, and the result was the for- 
mation of the (so-called) "Second Triumvirate" — the first 
government which really bore the name — a self-constituted 
Board of Three, who were conjointly to rule the State. 

The triumvirs concluded their agreement, November 27, b.c. 43. Its 
terms were : — (1) The establishment of the rule of the Three for a space of 
five years under the title of "Triumviri Reipublicae constituendre ;" (2) A di- 
vision of the provinces among the Three — Lepidus was to have Spain and 
Gallia Narbonensis ; Antony the rest of Gaul beyond the Alps and Gallia 
Cisalpina ; Octavius (or Octavian, as he was now called), Sicily, Sardinia, 
and Africa ; (3) A pi'oscription on a large scale, partly to strike terror into 
the adverse ranks, partly to obtain funds for carrying on the war effectively ; 
(4) The assignment of eighteen Italian cities with their lands as settlements 
for the legionaries, when the war should be over ; and (5) Certain arrange- 
ments as to the immediate conduct of affairs, — Lepidus was to receive the 
consulship, and to remain in Italy with three legions ; Octavian and Antony 
were to conduct the war in the East, each with twenty legions. 

48. On the opening of negotiations between Octavian and 
Antony, Decimus Brutus had been deserted by his soldiers, 
Death of Dec- «ind, when lie attempted to escape from Italy, had 
SrSmeut ^^^^ scizcd and put to death. The West was 
of the pro- thus pacified; and the triumvirs could therefore 

ficrintiori 

concentrate their whole attention, first upon the 
destruction of their enemies at home, and then upon the war 
in the East. The proscription was relentlessly enforced. 
Among its victims were Cicero, the tribune Salvius, Annalis, 
one of the praetors, Cicero's brother Quintus, and his nephew. 



PART I., PER. v.] SECOND TRIUMVIRATE. 497 

Quintus's son. The lists, which followed rapidly one upon 
the other, contained altogether the names of 300 senators 
and 2000 knights. The property of the proscribed was 
seized. The soldiers, let loose through Italy under the pre- 
tense of hunting out the proscribed, ravaged and wasted at 
their pleasure. Private malice obtained its gratification 
with impunity. Numbers were murdered merely because 
they were rich, and their property was coveted by the tri- 
umvirs or their creatures. 

49. Early in B.C. 42 military operations were commenced. 
Octavian, whose province of Sicily had been occupied by 
War between Scxtus Pompcius, made an attempt to Avrest it 
audThe^^Lib- f^'om his hands : but his admiral, Salvidienus, be- 
erators." {^^g defeated in a naval engagement near Messa- 
na, the enterprise was given up. Antony had already cross- 
ed from Italy to Epirus ; Octavian now followed him. Their 
combined forces, which exceeded 120,000 men, marched un- 
resisted through Epirus and Macedonia, and had reached 
Thrace before they were confronted by the "Liberators." 
These now brought up the full strength of the East against 
the Western legions ; their legionary infantry amounted to 
80,000 ; their cavalry to 20,000 ; and they had Asiatic levies 
in addition. Still, however, their forces were outnumbered 
by those of their adversaries ; whose legionaries were proba- 
bly not fewer than 120,000, while their cavalry was reckon- 
ed at 13,000. 

Brutus and Cassius had departed for the East in the autumn of b.c, 44, 
when their position in Rome became desperate. They were by decree of the 
Senate the hiwful governors of Macedonia and Syria. Brutus entered quiet- 
ly on his province ; but Cassius had to fight for his witli Dolabella, who had 
obtained it/7-07n the people after Cassius's departure. Dolabella, having put 
to death Trebonius, proconsul of Asia, one of CiBsar's murderers, was attack- 
ed by Cassius, shut up in Laodiceia, and driven to commit suicide, June 5, 
B.C. 43. From this time the authority of the "Liberators" was acknowl- 
edged generally throughout the East, and they drew freely on the resources 
of the country. 

50. The two armies met at Philippi (the ancient Creni- 
des) ; and the fate of the Roman world was decided in a 
Battles at twofold battle. In the first fight Brutus defeat- 
Phiiippi, ^ ed Octavian, but Antony gained a decided advan- 
tage over Cassius, who, unaware of his colleague's 

victory, committed suicide. In the second, three weeks later, 



498 ROME. [book v. 

the army of Brutus was completely overcome, and he himself, 
escaping from the field, could only follow the example of Cas- 
sius, and kill himself With Brutus fell the Republic. The 
usurpation of Csesar had suspended, but not destroyed it. 
It had revived after his death. The coarse brutality of An- 
tony, the craft of Octavian, had separately failed to put it 
down. Conjoined they achieved greater success. The Re- 
public, albeit some of its forms remained, was in reality 
swept away at Philippi. The absolute ascendency of indi- 
viduals, which is monarchy, was then established. There 
might afterwards be several competitors for the supreme 
power ; and struggles, fierce and bitter, might be carried on 
between them ; but no thought was entertained of resusci- 
tating any more the dead form of the Republic ; the contest 
was simply one between difierent aspirants to the supreme 
authority. 

51. The immediate consequence of the victory at Philippi 
was a fresh arrangement of the Roman world among the tri- 
umvirs. As Antony preferred the East, Octavian 

Arrau cements ,.*'.,. ,. , 

after the sec- Consented to relmquish it to him; but it was 
necessary that he should be compensated for the 
sacrifice. His colleague therefore yielded to him Italy and 
Spain, which last Lepidus was required to relinquish, obtain- 
ing instead the Roman "Africa." The facile Lepidus sub- 
mitted readily to the new partition ; and while Antony re- 
ceived the homage of the East, and himself succumbed to 
the charms of Cleopatra at Tarsus, Octavian undertook the 
direction of afiairs at the seat of government. 

52. But there was no real cordiality, no mutual respect, 
no sense even of a common interest, among the triumvirs. 
Civil War iu '^^^^ Roman world was scarcely theirs before they 
Italy between began to quaiTcl ovcr it. Octavian beins^ in dif- 

Octavian and ^.i^- -n c i • -,.. 

the party of iiculties at Kome irom the scarcity oi provisions 
" ""^" consequent on the attitude of Sextus Pompeius, 

from the despair of the Italians driven from their cities and 
lands to make room for the veterans, and from the discon- 
tent of many of the veterans themselves, whose rewards fell 
short of their hopes, Antony began to intrigue against him 
and to seek his downfall. The embers of discontent were 
fanned into a flame by the triumvir's brother, Lucius, and 
his wife Fulvia, who shortly put themselves at the head of 



PART I., PEii. V.J PEACE OF BRUNDUSIUM. 499 

an insurrectionary force, and disputed with Octavian the 

mastery of Italy. The hopes, however, of the insurgents 

were smothered in the smoke of Perusia (b.c. 40) ; and on 

the return of Antony to Italy, the rivals, at the 

FeaceoiBrun- . it 

dusium, B.C. instance of the soldiery, came to an accommoda- 

40 . 

tion. Octavian received the whole West, includ- 
ing both the Gauls and also Illyricuni; Antony was obliged 
to content himself with a diminished East ; Lepidus kept 
Africa. Fulvia having opportunely died, the "Peace of 
Brundusium" was sealed by a marriage, Octavian giving 
the hand of his widowed sister, Octavia, to his reconciled 
colleague. 

53. The pact of Brundusium was modified in the ensuing 
year, B.C. 39, by the admission of Sextus Pompeius into part- 
Treaty of Mi- nership with the triumvirs. It was agreed that 



senum. War ^^^ ghould retain Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica ; 



of Octaviau 



Pompdusr ^"^ ^^^^^ ^® should further receive Achaea, on 
U.C. 38-36. condition of his evacuating certain strongholds 
which he possessed in Italy. He for his part undertook to 
provide Rome plentifully with corn. This agreement, how- 
ever — known as the " Treaty of Misenum " — was never exe- 
cuted. Sextus did not receive Achaea, and therefore kept 
possession of the strongholds. Octavian, in retaliation, en- 
couraged the defection of his lieutenants, and received from 
one of them, Menodorus, a fleet and several forts in Sardinia 
and Corsica. Sextus, upon this, flew to arms ; and a naval 
war began between him and Octavian, which led, after sev- 
eral turns of fortune, to his comj^lete defeat and expulsion 
from Sicily. 

Details of the Pompeian War. Sextus plunders Campania, and cuts 
oif the Roman supplies of corn, b.c. 38. His admiral, Menecrates, defeats 
one of Octavian's fleets near Cumse, while he destroys another, under Octavi- 
an himself, in the Straits of Messina. Folly of Sextus, who makes no use of 
his victories. Octavian builds fresh fleets, receives 130 ships from Antony, 
and prepares to renew the war, b.c, 37. War renewed in the summer of 
B.C. 36. Lepidus, summoned from Africa, brings a squadron. Victory 
gained by Agrippa over a Pompeian squadron off Mylie, counterbalanced by 
the complete defeat of Octavian at Tauromenium. War determined by a 
great sea-fight off Naulochus, where the Caesarean fleet, commanded by 
Agrippa, gains a signal victoiy. Sextus, in despair, flies to Asia. 

54. But Octavian had scarcely time to congratulate him- 
self on his success, when he became aware of a new danger. 



500 ROME. [book v. 

The Pompeian land forces, which were consider- 
Lepidus,B.o. able, opened communications with Lepidus, and 
^^' having, conjointly with his troops, plundered Mes- 

sana, saluted him as their imperator, and ranged themselves 
under his banner. The weak noble, finding himself at the 
head of twenty legions, was intoxicated with his good-for- 
tune, and assuming an attitude of comjolete independence 
and even of hostility, set Octavian at defiance. A fresh and 
bloody struggle would have followed but for the prompt 
boldness of the young Cresar ; who, entering his rival's camp, 
unarmed and almost unattended, made an eloquent appeal to 
the soldiers, which was successful. Deserting Lepidus in a 
body, they declared for Octavian ; who degraded his fallen 
rival from the triumvirship, but spared his life, and allowed 
him to retain his oftice of chief pontiff. 

Lepidus lived till B.C. 12. He was at first required to reside at Circeii, 
but was afterwards brought to Rome, not so much out of favor, as for his 
greater humiliation. 

55. With the removal of Lepidus a war between Octavian 
and Antony became imminent. The bond of affinity by 
Coolness be- "^^^^^^^^ i^ li^^ been attempted to unite the inter- 
tvveeu octavi- ests of the rivals had failed. The wild and rou^h 

an and Auto- • -, n t • t i i^ ^ 

ny. Proceed- Autony soon tired oi his discreet but somewhat 
iiy^n*the East, cold spousc ; and his roving fa^ncy returned to 
ij.c. 37-34. ^^g voluptuous Egyptian, from whom it had 
strayed for a while. In b.c. 37, on setting out for the Par- 
thian War, he left Octavia behind him in Italy ; and ere the 
year b.c. 36 was out, he had reunited himself to his old mis- 
tress. Henceforth until his death she retained her influence 
over him unimpaired ; and we must ascribe the deterioration 
in Antony's character to this degrading connection. His 
great preparations against the Parthians had no commensu- 
rate result. After three campaigns, one in Media Atropa- 
tene (b.c. 36), wherein he acquired no honors, the others in 
Armenia (b.c. 35 to 34), where he was somewhat more suc- 
cessful, Antony abstained from military enterprise and de- 
voted himself to pleasure. The autumn of b.c. 34 was given 
up to debauchery and dissipation. In the infiituation caused 
by his passion, Antony not only acknowledged Cassarion, and 
assigned crowns to his own children by Cleopatra, but actu- 
ally ceded to Cleopatra, a foreigner, the Roman provinces 



PAKT I., PKR. v.] I'ARTHIAN WAR OF ANTONY. 501 

of Ca3le-Syria and Cyprus. Such conduct was no doubt 
treasonable, and furnished Octavian with the decent pretext 
for a declaration of war, for which he had long been waiting. 

Parthian and Armenian Wars of Antony. In b.c. 40, after the fall 
of Brutus and Cassius, the Parthians, under Pacorus, and assisted by the Ro- 
man refugee Q. Labienus, had overrun the East and carried all before them. 
They lost ground, however, in the following year, being attacked by Ventidi- 
ws, one of Antony's lieutenants, who defeated and slew Labienus (b.c. 39), 
and, in b.c. 38, gained a victory over Pacorus. Antony's expedition (b.c. 3G) 
was undertaken against Phraates, the brother of Pacorus, who had become 
king. Having allied himself with Artavasdes, king of Armenia, he led an 
expedition into Media Atropatene, which was under another Artavasdes, a 
dependent of the Parthian monarch. Antony penetrated as far as Praaspa, 
the capital, and laid siege to it, but was baffled and forced to retreat. His 
Armenian allies deserted him, and his retreat was disastrous in the extreme. 
The next year, he made an attack upon Armenia ; and the year following, 
B.C. 34, having again invaded the countiy, he seized the person of Artavasdes 
and conveyed him to Alexandria, to grace his triumph. 

56. Meanwhile Octavian had been exercising his legions, 
raising his reputation, and adding important tracts to the 

, Roman Empire in the West. In b.c. 35 he at- 

SllCCSSSGS dDcL 

popularity of tacked the Salassi and Taurisci, nations of the 
c avian. "Western Alps ; and in the course of the two fol- 
lowing years he reduced to subjection the Liburni and lapy- 
des in Dalmatia and the Pannonians in the valley of the 
Save. A new province was here added to the State. Octa- 
vian himself received a wound ; and his popularity, to which 
he artfully added by causing Agrippa as aedile to lavish vast 
sums on the improvement and adornment of the capital, was 
now at its height. His good -fortune enabled him at the 
same juncture to add a second province to the Empire in 
Mauretania, which was annexed peaceably on the death of 
Bocchus. Feeling himself assured of his position and of the 
good-will of the Roman people, Octavian now resolved to 
precipitate the rupture with his rival, for which he had been 
preparing ever since the formation of the triumvirate. 

57. The year b.c. 32 was passed by the rivals in mutual 
recriminations, in threats, insults, and preparations for the 
War between coming Struggle. Antony divorced Octavia with 
Autcniy"deci- all the harshncss allowable by Roman law ; made 
" B^utieofAc- ^^ alliance with the Parthians ; collected a vast 
tium," B.0. 31. fleet ; levied troops throughout all the East ; as- 



502 ROME. [book v. 

sembled his armaments on the coast of Epirus, and prepared 
to cross into Italy. Octavian inveighed against Antony in 
the Senate ; drove his partisans from Rome; caused his will 
to be opened and published ; had Cleopatra declared a pub- 
lic enemy ; and, collecting together all the forces of the 
Westj occupied the eastern shore of Italy with his fleets and 
armies. For a while the two rivals watched each other 
across the strait. At length, in the spring of b.c. 31, Octa- 
vian, though his forces were inferior in number, made the 
plunge. His fleet took Corcyra. His army was safely con- 
veyed to Epirus. Both were rapidly directed towards the 
Ambracian Gulf, where lay the fleet and army of his adver- 
sary. The work of seduction then began. Octavian found 
little difiiculty in drawing over to his service one Antonian 
oflicer after another, Antony's indecision and his infatuation 
i")r Cleopatra having greatly disgusted his followers. These 
lepeated defections reduced the triumvir to a state of de- 
spondency, and led him most unhappily to accept Cleopatra's 
fatal counsels. Under pretense of giving battle to his ad- 
versary's fleet, Antony, on the morning of September 2, b.c. 
31, put to sea with the deliberate intention of deserting his 
land force and flying with Cleopatra to Egypt. Actium was 
not a battle in any proper sense of the term. It was an oc- 
casion on which a commander voluntarily sacrificed the 
greater portion of his fleet in order to escape with the re- 
mainder. We can with difficulty understand how Antony 
Avas induced to yield every thing to his adversary without 
really striking a blow. But the fact that he did so yield is 
plain. He left his land army without orders, to fight or 
make terms, as it pleased ; he left his fleet, not when it was 
defeated, but when it was still struggling manfully, and but 
for his flight might have been victorious. It was his deser- 
tion which decided the engagement, and, with it^ the fate of 
the Roman world. It is with good reason that the Empire 
is regarded as dating from the day of Actium. Though An- 
tony existed, and resisted, for nearly a year longer in Egypt, 
it was only as a desperate man, clinging to life till the last 
moment. From the day of Actinm Octavian was sole mas- 
ter of the Roman world. 

Conclusion of the Struggle with Antony. When Antony fled, his 
fleet lost heart, and the remainder of it was annihilated. His land force, af- 



PART I., PKK. VI.] BATTLE OF ACTIUM. 503 

ter waiting a week for him to return to it, surrendered. Octavian, having 
founded Nicopolis and spent the winter at Rome, jn-oceeded in li.c. 30 to 
Egypt, landing at Pelusium, wliich submitted to him without a blow. Anto- 
ny attempted to defend Alexandria, and was successful in a cavalry skirmish, 
but soon afterwards suflfered a defeat. His fleet and army then deserted 
him ; and, having no resource left, he committed suicide. Cleopatra follow- 
ed his example ; and Octavian, being now master of Egypt, reduced it into 
the form of a Roman province. Anthyllus, Antony's son by Eulvia, Cajsa- 
rion, Canidius, commander of the land force at Actium, Cassias Parmensis, 
one of Cicsar's mui'derers, and several other "Antonians," were ruthlessly 
put to death. 

SIXTH PERIOD. 

From the Establishment of the Empire under Augustus to the Destruction of 
the Roman Power in the West by Odoacer, from B.C. 31 to a.d. 476. 

Preliminary Remarks on the Geographical Extent and Principal Divisions 
of the Roman Empire, 

1. The boundaries of the Roman Empire, as established by- 
Augustus, may be stated in a general way, as follows :— On 
the north, the British Channel, the German Ocean, 
boundS of the Rhine, the Danube, and the Euxine ; on the 
the Empire. ^^^^^ ^^^ Euphrates and the desert of Syria; on 
the south, the great African desert ; and on the west, the At- 
lantic. It extended from east to west a distance of fifty de- 
grees, or about 2700 miles, between Cape Finisterre and the 
vicinity of Erzeroum. Its average breadth was about fifteen 
deo-rees, or above 1000 miles. It comprised the modern coun- 
tries of' Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, Western Holland, 
Rhenish Prussia, parts of Baden and Wurtemberg, most of 
Bavaria, Switzerland, Italy, the Tyrol, Austria Proper, West- 
ern Hungary, Croatia, Slavonia, Servia, Turkey in Europe, 
Greece, Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, Idumeea, Egypt, the Cy- 
renaica, Tripoli, Tunis, Algeria, and most of Marocco. Its 
area may be roughly estimated at a million and a half of 

square miles. . • j j • 

2. The entire Empire, exclusive of Italy, was divided mto 
"Provinces," which may be conveniently grouped under 
Three groups three heads: viz., the Western, or European ;_ the 
of provinces. Eastern, or Asiatic ; and the Southern, or African. 
The Western, or European, provinces were fourteen in num- 
ber; viz., Spain, Gaul, Germany, Vindelicia, Rhaetia, Nori- 
cum', Pannonia, Moesia, Illyricum, Macedonia, Thrace, Achaea, 



504 KOME. [book v, 

Sicily, and Sardinia; the Eastern, or Asiatic, were eight, viz., 
Asia Proj^er, Bithynia, Galatia, Pamphylia, Cappadocia, Cili- 
cia, Syria, and Palestine ; the Southern or African were five, 
viz., Egypt, the Cyrena'ica (including Crete), Africa Proper, 
Numidia, and Mauretania. The entire number was thus 
twenty-seven. 

3. Spain (Hispania, Iberia), the most western of the Eu- 
ropean provinces, included the entire peninsula, and was 
^ washed on all sides by the sea exceptinsj towards 

Western or . , . *'. -i ^ /-^ i 

European: the uortli-cast, whcrc it was separated irom Gaul 
^^^^' by the Pyrenees. It was subdivided into three 

distinct portions, generally administered by three different 
governors : viz. (a) Lusitania, or the country of the Lusitani, 
corresponding nearly to the modern Portugal; (b) Bsetica, 
the country about the Bsetis (or Guadalquivir), the modern 
Andalucia ; and (c) Tarraconensis, comprising all the rest of 
^ .^ . the peninsula- (a) Lusitania was inhabited by 

Lusitania. ^ ^ ..,^'' -, r^ ^^ - - 1 1 

three principal races, the Gallaeci in the north 
(Gallicia), the Lusitani in the centre, and the Turdetani in 
the south. It had three great rivers, the Durius (Douro), 
the Tagus (Tajo), and the Anas (Guadiana). The chief 
towns were Augusta Emerita on the Anas, now Merida, 
and Olisipo on the Tagus, now IJsboa (Lisbon), (b) Btetica 
was inhabited by the Turduli towards the north 
and the Bastuli towards the south. Its only im- 
portant river was the Btetis. Its chief towns were Corduba 
(Cordova) and Hispalis (Sevilla) in the interior, and on the 
Taiiacoueii- coast Gades, now Cadiz. (c) Tarraconensis, by 
^^*' -• far the largest of the three subdivisions, com- 

prised the upper courses of the Durius, Tagus, and Anas, and 
the entire tract watered by the Iberus (Ebro), Turia, Sucro 
(Jucar), and Tader (Segura) rivers. It Avas inhabited, to- 
wards the north, by the Astures, Cantabri, Yaccaei, Yascones, 
and others ; in the central regions, by the Carpetani, Celti- 
beri, and Ilergetes ; and, along the east coast, by the Indige- 
tes, Ausetani, Cosetani, Ilercavones, Suessetani, Contestani, 
etc. Its chief cities were Tarraco, the capital, on the east 
coast, now Tarragona ; Carthago Nova (Carthagena) ; Cae- 
sar-Augusta (Zaragoza or Saragossa), on the Iberus; Tole- 
turn (Toledo), on the Upper Tagus ; and Ilerda (Lerida). In 
Tarraconensis were also included the Balearic isles, Major 



I'ART I., FER. VI.] rilOVlNCP:S OF THE EMPIRE. 505 

(Majorca) and Minor (Minorca), and the Pityusa?, Ebiisus 
(Ivica), and Ophiusa (Formentera). 

4. Ganl (Gallia), which adjoined Spain to tlie north-east, 
corresponded nearly with the modern France, ^ut included 
also portions of Belgium and Switzerland. It 
was bounded on the Avest and north by the 
ocean ; on the east by Roman Germany, Rhretia, and Gallia 
Cisalpina ; on the south by the Pyi'enees and the Mediterra- 
nean. It had five principal rivers : the Scaldis (Scheldt) 
and Sequana (Sehie) in the north ; the Liger (Loire) and 
Garumna (Garonne) towards the west ; and the Rhodanus 
(Rhone) in the south. Augustus subdivided it into four re- 
gions : viz. (a) Aquitania, the country of the Aquitani, to- 
wards the south-west, from the Pyrenees to the Loire ; (b) 
Lugdunensis, to the north-west, reaching from Cape Finis- 
terreto Lyons (Lngdunum), the capital ; (c) Narbonensis, to- 
wards the south-east, between Aquitariia and the maritime 
Alps; and (d) Belgica, towards the north-east, reaching from 
the British Channel to the lake of Geneva, (a) Aquitania 
comprised the basins of the Garumna (Garonne), 
qui ania. p^^^.^j^^^g (Dordogne), Carantonus (Charente), and 
half the basin of the Liger (Loire). Its chief tribes were the 
Aquitani in the south, the Santones and Pictones towards 
the north-west, the Bituriges towards the north-east, in the 
tract about Bourges, and the Arverni to the south-east, in 
Auvergne. The most important cities were Climberris and 
Burdigala (Bourdeaux). {b) Lugdunensis consisted of the 
, , . reoiion between the Loire and the Seine, together 

LugClUUeilSlS. p, /.IT 1 • 1 in 

with a tongue oi land stretchmg along the Saone 
to a little below Lyons. Its principal tribes were the ^dui 
in the south; the Senones, Parisii, Carnutes, and Cadurci 
in the inteiior ; the Veneti, Osismii, Curiosolitae, Unelli, and 
Lexovii upon the coast. The capital, Lugdunum, was incon- 
veniently placed at the extreme south-east of the province. 
The other important towns were Lutetia Parisiorum (Paris), 
Genabum (Orleans), and Juliomagus (Angers), (c) Narbo- 
, , . nensis extended from the Upper Garonne on the 

Narbouensis. , ^_ i i • -i i 

west to the V ar upon the east, lymg along the 
Pyrenees and the Mediterranean. Inland it reached as far 
as the Cevennes, the Middle Rhone, and the lake of Geneva. 
The chief tribes inhabiting it were the Yolc^e in the west, 

22 



506 HOME. [book v. 

the Allobroges in the tract between the Rhone and thelsere 
(Isara), the Vocontii between the Isere and the Durance, 
and the Salluvii on the coast near Marseilles. Its principal 
cities were Narbo, the capital, now Narbonne, on the Medi- 
terranean; Tolosa (Toulouse), Vienna (Vienne), Nemausus 
(Nismes), Geneva, and Massilia (Marseilles). (d) Belgica 
lay between the Seine and the Scheldt, and ex- 
'^ tended southward to the Bernese Alps and the 

northern shore of the lake of Geneva. It was bounded on 
the east by the Roman Germany and Rhostia, on the west 
by Gallia Lugdunensis, and on the south by Gallia Narbonen- 
sis and Gallia Cisalpina. The principal tribes were, in the 
north, the Caletes, Ambiani, Bellovaci, Atrebates, Morini, 
and Nervii ; in the central region, the Suessiones, the Remi, 
the Treviri, the Leuci, and the Lingones ; towards the south , 
the Sequani and the Helvetii. The most important tOAvns 
were Noviodunmn (^oissons),Durocortoruni (Reims), Augus- 
ta Trevirorum (Treves), Divodurum (Metz), Vesontio (Besan- 
9on),and Aventicum (Avenches, in Switzerland). 

5. Germany (which is sometimes included in Gaul) com- 
prised two divisions, the Lower (Inferior) and the Upper 
(Superior). Lower Germany lay npon the sea- coast, be- 
Germauy: twccu the mouth of the Scheldt and that. of the 
Lower. Rhine. It comprised Eastern Belgium, Western 
Holland, and Rhenish Prussia as far south as tlie Ahr. Its 
chief tribes were the Batavi and Menapii in the north ; the 
Ubii on the Rhine near Cologne; the Eburones and Con- 
drusi on the Mosa (Meuse) ; and the Segni in the Ardennes. 
The principal towns were Noviomagus (Nimeguen), Colonia 
Agrippinensis (Cologne), and Bonna (Bonn). Upper Ger- 
many was a narrow strip of land along the course of the 

Rhine from Remaaren, at the mouth of the Ahr 

TJpper, . . 

valley, to the point at which the Rhine receives 

the waters of the Aar. It was inhabited by the Caracates, 

the Yangiones, the Nemetes, the Triboci, and the Rauraci. 

The principal cities were Ad Confluentes (Coblenz), Mogon- 

tiacum (Mayence), Borbetomagus (Worms), Argentoratum 

(Strasburg), and Augusta Rauracorum (Basle). 

6. Yindelicia, or the country of the Yindelici, lay between 
the Danube and the Bavarian Alps. It corresponded nearly 
with Bavaria south of the Danube, including however a cor- 



PART I., PER. VI.] PKOVINCES OF THE EMPIRE. 507 

vindeiicia. ^^^' between the Rhine and the Upper Danube, 
which now belongs to Wurtemberg and Baden. 
It was inhabited, towards the north, by the Vindelici ; towards 
the south, by the Brigantes. The chief cities were Augusta 
Vindelicorum (Augsburg) and Brigantia on the Lake of 
Constance (Bregenz). 

7. Rhsetia lay south of Vindeiicia and east of the country 
of the Helvetii. It included the modern Tyrol, the Yorarl- 

berg, and the part of Switzerland known as the 

Rhsetia. r-^ - a •. . -i i • -. 

Grisons. Among its tribes were, besides the 
Rhseti, the Venostes, Vennones, Brixentes, Tridentini, Me- 
doaci, etc. Its chief cities were Veldidena (Wilten, near 
Inspriick), Curia (Chur or Coire), and Tridentum (Trent). 

8. ISToricum, which lay east of Vindeiicia and Rh^tia, 
stretched along the Danube from its junction with the Inn 

^^ , to a point a little above Vienna. It comprised 

Noncum. 01 • /-i • i • t 1 ^ » . 

htyria, Carinthia, and the greater part ot Austria 
Proper. The chief cities were Juvavia (Salzburg) and Boio- 
durum (Passau). 

9. Pannonia, one of the most important of the Roman 
provinces, lay east and partly south of Noricum. It was 

bounded on two sides, the north and east, by the 

Pannonia. -r-k i i • ^ • -, • n • -, 

Danube, which in this part of its course makes 
the remarkable bend to the south by which its lower is 
thrown three degrees south of its upper course. On the 
west an artifical line divided Pannonia from ISToricum ; on 
the south it was separated from Illyricum by the mountains 
directly south of the valley of the Save. It thus comprised 
all Hungary south of the Danube, together with allSlavonia, 
and parts of Austria Proper, of Styria, Croatia, and Bosnia. 
It was divided, like Germany, into Upper and Lower. Up- 
per Pannonia adjoined Noricum, extending along 
the Danube from a little above Vienna to the 
mouth of the Arrabo (Raab). Its chief tribes were the Boii 
in the north, the Latovici, Jassii, and Colapini in the south, 
along the course of the Save. The principal towns were 
Vindobona (Vienna) and Carnuntum on the Danube, Siscia 
(Zissek) on the Save, and ^mona (Laybach) Ijetween the 
Save and the Alpes Julioe. Lower Pannonia lay 

Lower. i i t^ 

along the Danube from the mouth of the Arrabo 
to. that of the Save. Its most important cities were Acincum 



508 ROME. [book v. 

Bucla)-Pestli) and Acimincum (Peterwardin) on the Danube, 
Miirsa (Esseg) on the Drave, and on the Save Sirniium (Za- 
batz or Alt-Schabaaz) and Taurunum (Semlin). 

10. Moesia was the last of the Danubian provinces. It 
lay along the river from its junction with the Save to its 

. mouth, extending southward to the line of the 
Balkan. Its western boundary, which separated 
it from Illyria, was the course of the Drinus (Drina). It 
corresponded thus almost exactly to the modern Servia and 
Bulgaria. The Romans divided it, like Pannonia, into Su- 
perior and Inferior. Moesia Superior reached 
*^ ^' from the Drinus and the mouth of the Save to 
the little river Cebrus or Ciabrus (Ischia), whence a line 
drawn southward separated it from Mcesia Inferior. It com- 
prised thus Servia and a part of Western Bulgaria. The 
chief towns were Singidunum (Belgrade) and Naissus (Nis- 
sa). Moesia Inferior, a lono-er but a narrower 
tract, stretched from the Ciabrus to the mouth 
of the great river. It comprised about nine-tenths of the 
modern Bulgaria, together with a small portion of Roume- 
lia. The chief towns were Dorostolum (Silistria) and Axi- 
opolis (Rassova) on the Danube, and Odessus (Varna), Tomi 
(Tomisvar), and Istrus (Kustendjeh), on the coast of the 
Euxine. 

11. Illyricum lay along the western shore of the Adriatic 
from the peninsula of Istria to Anion (Avlona) in Epirus. It 

thus comprised the present Montenegro, the Iler- 
yiicum. zegovina, and the greater part of Albania. The 
more northern portion of Illyricum was known as Dalmatia, 
the more southern as Illyria Proper. Among the principal 
tribes inhabiting it Avere the lapydes and Liburni in the 
north ; the Breuci, Mazsei, Dsesitiatte, and Deimates in the 
mid-region ; and the Autariatoe, Parthini, and Taulantii in 
the south. Its chief towns were Scardona (which retains 
its name), Narona on the Naro (Narenta), Epidaurus on the 
Gulf of Cattaro, Scodra (Scutari, on the Bojana), Lissus 
(Lesch or Allessio, on the Drin), Dyrrhachium (Durazzo), 
and Appollonia (Pollina). These were all situated on or 
near the coast. 

12. Macedonia lay south of Illyricum and Moesia Superior, 
and extended across the peninsula from the Adriatic to the 



PART I., PKR. VI.] PROVINCES OF THE EMPIRE. 509 

„ , . ^^i^ean. On the east it was bounded by Thrace, 

Macedonia. , ,. ^ . , . , . ^.-^ *^ ^ 

the nne 01 separation benig the river JNestus. On 
the south an artificial line, carried from the Ambracian to 
the Maliac Gulf, divided it from Achaea. It comprised, be- 
sides the ancient Macedon, most of Epirus and the whole of 
Thessaly. Its chief towns were Nicopolis, on the Gulf of 
Ambracia or Actium, built by Augustus to celebrate his vic- 
tory ; Edessa, Pella, Beroea, Thessalonica, and Philippi. 

13. South of Moesia Inferior and east of Macedonia was 
Tlirace, which under the first Ca3sars still retained a semi-in- 
dependent position, being governed by kings of 
its own, Rhescuporis-, and others ; but was re- 
duced into the form of a province by Claudius. The princi- 
pal tribes in Roman times were the Odrysic, the Bessi, and 
the CcElet93. The cities of most importance were Byzantium 
and Apollonia (Sizeboli) upon the coast, and Philippofis 
(Filibe), and afterwards Hadrianopolis, in the interior. 

14. Achsea lay directly south of Macedonia, corresponding 
almost exactly with the modern Kingdom of Greece. It in- 
cluded the Ionian islands and the Cyclades, but 
not Crete, which belonged to the Cyrenaica. 

The chief towns were Patrse (Patras), Corinth, and Athens. 

15. The Eastern or Asiatic provinces have now to be brief- 
ly described. As alrexidy stated (p. 504), they were eight in 
Eastern or number : viz., Asio Proper,Bithynia, Galatia, Pam- 
Abiatic: phylia, Cappadocia, Cilicia, Syria, and Palestine. 

16. Asia Proper, which included the ancient Mysia, Lydia, 
Caria, and a part of Phrygia, occupied the whole western 

coast of Asia Minor, extending from the Cianian 
Gulf in the Propontis to Caunus on the Sea of 
Rhodes. Inland it reached to about the 32d degree of east 
longitude, where it adjoined Galatia and Caj^padocia. Bi- 
thynia bounded it on the north, Pamphylia on the south. 
The Roman capital of Asia Proper was Ephesus; but the 
following towns were of almost equal importance : Smyrna, 
Pergamus, Sardis, Apameia Cibotus, and Synnada. 

17. Bithynia, which lay north, or rather north-east, of 
" Asia," had nearly its old dimensions, extending along the 

„.,^ . coast from the mouth of the Macestus on the west 

Bithynia. 

to that of the Parthenius upon the east. Inland 
it reached a little south of the 40th parallel, being bounded 



Asia Proper. ' 



5]0 ROME. [book v. 

towards the south-east by the upper course of the Sangarius 
(Sakkariyeh), which separated it from both "Asia" and Ga- 
latia. Its Roman capital was Nicomedia (now Ismid), in 
the inner recess of the Gulf of Astacus. Its other important 
cities were Nica?a (Iznik), Chalcedon (Scutari), and Heracleia 
(Eregli). 

18. Galatia was situated to the east of Bithynia. It in- 
cluded the ancient Paphlagonia, North-eastern Phrygia, and 

a part of Western Cappadocia. The southern 
part of the province, which lay on both sides the 
river Halys, was Galatia Proper, and was inhabited by the 
three tribes of the Tolistoboii, the Tectosages, and the 
Trocmi. The chief city of Galatia was Ancyra (Angora) on 
the Upper Sangarius. Other important towns were Pessinus 
on the western border, in the country of the Tolistoboii, 
Tavia east of the Halys, in the country of the Trocmi, and 
Sinope on the Euxine. 

19. Pamphylia, situated to the south of "Asia," contained 
the four subdivisions of Pamphylia Proper, the region origi- 
nally bearing: the name (see p. 29), Lycia, Pisidia, 
and Isauria. It extended along the southern 

coast of Asia Minor from Caunus to Coracesium, and reach- 
ed inland to the Lakes of Bei-Shehr and Egerdir. Its chief 
city was Perga in Pamj)hylia Proper ; besides which it con- 
tained the following towns of note: Xanthus in Lycia, Eten- 
na and Antioch in Pisidia, Oroanda and Isaura in Isauria. 

20. Cappadocia adjoined Galatia and Pamphylia towards 
the east. Like Pamphylia, it comprised four regions : viz., 

Lycaonia, the most western, which adjoined Isau- 
ria and "Asia ;" Cappadocia Proper, east of Ly- 
caonia, on both sides of the river Halys ; Pontus, north of 
Cappadocia Proper, between it and the Euxine ; and Armenia 
Minor, south-east of Pontus, a rugged mountain tract lying 
along the L^pper Euphrates. The chief city of Cappadocia 
was Csesarea Mazaca (Kaisariyeh), between Mount Argseus 
and the Halys. It contained also the important towns of 
Iconium (Koniyeh) in Lycaonia ; Tyana and Melitene (Ma- 
latiyeh) in Cappadocia Proper ; and Amisus, Trapezus (Treb- 
izond), Amasia, Sebastia, and Nicopolis in Pontus. 

21. Cilicia lay east of Pamphylia and south of Cappadocia. 
It reached alono- the south coast of Asia Minor from Corace- 



TAUT T., rKR. vr.] PROVINCES OF THE EMPIRE. 511 

siiini to Alexandria (Iskanderoun). The eastern 
^"'"''* portion of the province was known as Campestris, 
the western as Montana or Aspera. Tarsus, on the Cydnus, 
was its capital. Other important towns were Issus in the 
pass of the name, Mopsuestia on the Pyramus, and Scleuceia 
on* the Calycadnus, near its mouth. 

22. Syria, which adjoined Cappadocia and Cilicia, extend- 
ed from about the 38th parallel upon the north to Mount 
Carmel towards the south, a distance of nearly 
^^"'"^ 400 miles. It was bounded on the east by the 
Euphrates as far as Thapsacus and then by the waterless 
Syrian desert. Southward it adjoined on Palestine. The 
province was divided into ten principal regions:— (l) Com- 
magene, towards the north, between Cilicia and Armenia ; 
chief city, Samosata (Sumeisat) on the Euphrates, 
commagene. ^^j Cyrrhcstica, south of Commagene, between 
Cilicia and Mesopotamia; chief cities, Cirrhus, Zeugma 
(Rum-kaleh), and Bambyce or Hierapolis (Bambuk). (3) 
Seleucis, on the coast, south of Cilicia and south-west of 
Cyrrhestica; chief city, Antioch, with its suburb, Daphne, 
and its port, Seleuceia. (4) Casiotis, south of Seleucis, so 
called from the Mons Casius, extending along the shore from 
the foot of that mountain to the river Eleutherus (Xahr-el- 
Kebir) ; chief cities, Laodiceia and Marathus. (5) Phoenicia, 
a thin slip of coast, due south of Casiotis, reach- 
Phoenicia. -^^^ ^^,^^^ ^^le rivcr "Eleutherus to Mount Carmel; 
chief towns, Antaradus, Berytus (Beyrut), Sidon, Tyre, and 
Ptolemais (Acre). (6) Chalybonitis, south of Cyrrhestica, 
and east of Seleucis, lying between Seleucis and the Euphra- 
tes ; chief city, Chalybon (now Aleppo). (7) Chalcis or Chal- 
cidice, south of Chalybonitis ; chief city, Chalcis, on the lake 
into which the river of Aleppo empties itself. (8) Apamene, 
south of Chalcidice, and east of Casiotis, comprising a large 
portion of the Orontes valley, together with the country east 
of it ; chief city, Apameia ; important towns, Epiphaneia 
(Hamah) and Emesa (Hems). (9) Ccele-Syria, south of Apa- 
mene and east of Phoenicia, consisting of the val- 
coeie-syiia. ^^^ between the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, to- 
gether with the Anti-Lebanon itself and the fertile tract at 
its eastern base towards Damascus ; chief cities, Damascus, 
Abila, and Heliopolis (Balbek). And (10) Palmyr6ne, the 



612 KOME. [book v. 

desert tract south of Clialyhonitis and oast of Chalcidice and 
Apameiie, com^jrisiug some fertile oases, of which 
a myiLiit. ^.^^ principal contained the famous Tadmor or 
Palmyra, " the city of Palms." The capital of the entire 
Syrian province was Antioch, on the Lower Orontes. The 
most important of the other cities in Roman times were Da- 
mascus and Emesa. 

23. Palestine, which adjoined Syria on the south, was, like 
Syria, divided up into a number of districts. The chief of 
Palestine: these were Galilee, Samaria, Judaea, Idumsea, and 
Galilee. Peraea, wdiich last included IturaBa, Trachonitis, 

Auranitis, Batanaea, etc. Galilee was entirely an inland re- 
gion, being shut out from the coast by the strip of territory 
belonging to Phcenicia. It reached from Hermon on the 
north to the plain of Esdraelon and valley of Beth-shan 
upon the south. The most important of its cities were Cjb- 
sarea Philippi, near the site of the ancient Dan, Tiberias, on 
the lake of the name, Capernaum, and Jotapata. Samaria, 
which lay south of Galilee, extended from the 
plain of Esdraelon to the hill-country of Benja- 
min (about lat. 32°). It reached across from the sea to the 
Jordan, including the rich plain of Sharon as w^ell as the hill- 
country of Manasseh and Ephraim. The chief cities in Ro- 
man times were Caesarea, upon the coast; Sebaste (Samaria), 
Neapolis (Shechem), now Nablus, and Shiloh, in the interior. 
Judaea, w^hich succeeded Samaria towards the 
south, occupied the coast line from a little to the 
north of Joppa (Jaffa) to Raphia (Refah). Eastward it was 
bounded by the Jordan and the Dead Sea, southward by 
Idumaea or Edom. It comprised the hill-country of Judah 
and Benjamin, the desert towards the Dead Sea, and the rich 
Shefelah or plain of the Philistines. The chief towns were 
Jerusalem, Hebron, and Joppa (Jaffa). Idumaea, or "Ro- 
man Arabia," was the tract between Judiea and 
Egypt ; it included the Sinaitic peninsula, Idu- 
maea Proper, and a narrow tract along the eastern coast of 
the Red Sea, reaching as far south as lat. 24°. The chief 
city was Petra. Peraea, or the tract across Jor- 
dan, comprised the entire habitable country be- 
tween the great river of Palestine and the Syrian desert. 
The more northern parts were known as Ituraea and Tracho- 



PART I., PER. VI.] PROVINCES OF THE EMPIRE. 513 

nitis; below these came Anratiitis (the Hauran), Galaditis 
(Gilead), Ammonitis, and Moabitis. The chief cities were 
Gerasa (Jerash) and Gadara. 

24. The African or Southern provinces were six in num- 
ber : viz., Egypt ; the Cyrenaica, including Crete ; Africa 
Southern or Proper; Numidia ; and Mauretania. Of these 
Afbican: Egypt was by far the most important, being the 
granary of the Empire. 

25. Egypt, according to Roman notions, included, besides 
the Delta and the valley of the Nile, first, the entire tract 

between the Nile and the Red Sea ; secondly, the 
^^^^^' north coast of Africa from the western mouth of 
the Nile as far as Paraetonium ; and thirdly, the oases of the 
Libyan desert as far west as long. 28°. Southward the limit 
was Syene, now Assouan. In Egypt Proper, or the Nile val- 
ley and Delta, three regions were recognized— ^gyptus Infe- 
rior, or the Delta, which contained thirty-five nomes; Hepta- 
nomis, the mid-region, containing seven ; and ^gyptus Su- 
perior, the Upper valley, containing fifteen. The capital of 
the province Avas Alexandria; other important towns were, 
in Lower Egypt, Pelusium, Sais, and Heliopolis ; in the Hep- 
tanomis, Arsinoe, Heracleopolis, Antinoe, and Hermopolis 
Magna; in iEgyptus Superior, Thebes, Panopolis, Abydus, 
Ombos, and Syene. 

26. The Cyrenaica adjoined Egypt upon the west, and 
extended along the coast from long. 27° to 19°. It was a 

tolerably broad tract, reaching so far inland as to 
Cyrenaica. j^^^^^^^g ^^le oasis of Ammon, and perhaps that of 
Aujilah. The chief towns were Berenice (now Benghazi), 
Arsinoe (Teuchira), Ptolema'is, near Barca (now Dolmeta), 
and Cyrene (now Grennah). In Crete, which belonged to 
this province; the most important towns were Gnossus on 
the north coast, and Gortyna in the interior. 

27. Africa Proper corresponded nearly to the two modern 
Beyliks of Tunis and Tripoli. It extended along the shore 

from Automalax on the Greater Syrtis to the riv- 
Afiica. ^^ Tusca (Wady-ez-zain), which divided it from 
Numidia. The province was made up of two very different 
regions, viz., a narrow strip of flat coast reaching from Auto- 
malax to the Gulf of Khabs or Lesser Syrtis, and a broad, 
hilly, and extremely fertile region, north of the Syrtis and 

22* 



514 ROME. [book v. 

the salt lake known as the Shibkah, the former correspond- 
ing to the modern Tripoli, the latter to Tunis. The chief 
towns were, in the western hill-tract, Hadrumetum, Car- 
thage, Utica, and Hij^po Zaritus ; in the low eastern region, 
Tacape and Leptis Magna, or Neapolis. 

28. Numidia was, comparatively speaking, a small tract, 
its sea-board reaching only from the Tusca *to the Ampsaga, 

a distance of about 150 miles. Inland it extend- 
ed as far as the Atlas mountains. Its chief town 
was Hippo Regius, the modern Bona. 

29. Mauretania, the country of the Mauri or Moors, ex- 
tended from the river Ampsaga on the east to about Cape 

Ghir (lat..30° 35') upon the west. It correspond- 
ed in a measure to the modern Marocco and Al- 
geria, but did not reach so far either eastward or westward. 
The province was subdivided into two portions, which were 
called respectively Tingitana and Csesariensis. Tingitana 
readied from Cape Ghir to the mouth of the Mulucha (Mul- 
wia). It took its name from Tingis, the capital, now Tan- 
giers. Csesariensis Lay between the Mulucha and the Amp- 
saga. The chief cities were Csesarea and Igilgilis, both on 
the Mediterranean. 

30. Such was the extent, and such were the divisions and 
subdivisions of the Roman Empire under Augustus. Dur- 
„ ,. insj the century, however, which followed upon 

Further ex- , .^ , / x -, , \ -,. 

icusionofthe his decease (a.d. 14 to 114) several large addi- 
"^^ ^ ' tions were made to the Roman territory ; these 

will now require a few words of notice. The most impor- 
tant of them were those of the Agri Decumates, of Britain, 
Dacia, Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Assyria. 

31. The Agri Decumates fell under Roman protection 
towards the close of the reign of Augustus, but were not 
AgriDecuma- incorporated into the Empire till about b.c. 100. 
^^^- They consisted of a tract between the Upper 
Danube and the Middle Rhine, reaching from about Ingol- 
stadt on the one stream to the mouth of the Lahn upon the 
other, and thus comprising most of Wurtemberg and Baden, 
together with a portion of South-western Prussia. The 
most important city in this region was Sumalocenna on the 
Upper Main. 

32. Britain was conquered as far as the Dee and the Wash 



i-AKT I., PEK. VI.] PROVINCES OF THE EMPIRE. 515 

under Claudius, and was probably at once reduced to the 
Britannia, ^^^^ ^^ ^ Roman province. The chief tribes of 
this portion of the island were the Cantii in 
Kent, the Trinobantes in Essex, the Iceni in Norfolk and 
Suffolk, the Catyeuchlani, Dobuni, and Cornavii, in the mid- 
land counties, the Regni in Sussex, Surrey and Hants, the 
Belgse in Somerset and Wilts, the Damnonii in Devon and 
Cornwall, the Silures in South Wales, and the Ordovices in 
North Wales. The most important cities were Camulo- 
dunum (Colchester), Londinium (London), Yerulamium (St. 
Alban's), Isca (Caerleon upon Usk), and Deva (Chester). 
Under Nero and YeSpasian further conquests were made ; 
and under Titus the frontier was advanced as far north as 
the Friths of Forth and Clyde, which thenceforth formed 
the real limit of "Britannia Romana." The Highlands of 
Scotland remained in the possession of the Caledonii, and no 
attempt was ever made to conquer Ireland (Hibernia or 
lerne). The tribes of the North were chiefly the Damnii, 
Selgovse, and Otadeni in the Scotch Lowlands ; the Brigan- 
tes in Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cumberland, Westmoreland, 
and Durham ; and the Coritani in Lincoln and Notts. The 
most important of the Northern cities was Eboracum (York). 

33. Dacia, which was added to the Empire by Trajan, com- 
prised Hungary east of the Theiss, together with the. modern 

. principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia. On 

the west the Theiss separated it from the Jazy- 
ges Metanastae, who held the tongue of land between the 
Danube and Theiss rivers. The Carpathians formed its 
boundary upon the north. Eastward it reached to the 
Hierasus, which is either the Sereth, or more probably the 
Pruth. Southward it was divided from Moesia by the Dan- 
ube. The native capital was Zermizegethusa, which became 
Ulpia Trajana under the Romans. Other important towns 
were Tibiscum (Temesvar), Apulum (Carloburg), and Napo- 
ca (Neumarkt). 

34. Armenia, which, like Dacia, was conquered by Trajan, 
adjoined upon the east the Roman province of Cappadocia, 

and extended thence to the Caspian. On the 

north it was bounded by the river Kur or Cyrus, 

on the south by the Mons Masius, on the south-east by the 

hiojh mountain-chain between the lakes of Yan and Urumi- 



516 KOME. - [iJooK V. 

yeh, and by the river Araxes (Aras). Its chief cities were 
Artaxata on the Araxes, Amida (Diarbekr) in the upper val- 
lev of the Tigris, and Tigranocerta on the flanks of Mount 
Niphates. 

35. Mesopotamia, likewise one of Trajan's conquests, lay 
south of Armenia, extending from the crest of the Mons Ma- 
sius almost to the shore of the Persian Gulf, and comjDrising 
the whole tract between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. 
Its chief regions were Osrhoene and Mygdonia in tlie nortli, 
in the south Babylonia and Mesene. In Roman times, Se- 
leucia, on the Tigris, was its most important city. Other 
places of some consequence were Edessa and Carrhse (Ha- 
ran) in Osrhoene, Nisibis in Mygdonia, Circesium near the 
mouth of the Khabur, and Hatra in the desert between the 
Kliabur and the Tigris. 

36. Assyria, conquered by Trajan, and again by Septimius 
Severus, lay east of the Tigris, between that stream and the 
mountains. Southward it extended to the Lesser Zab, or 
perhaps to the Diyaleh, The only town of importance 
which it contained was Arbela. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 

FIRST SECTION. 

From the Battle of Actium, B.C. 31, to the Death of Commodus, a.d. 192. 

Sources. The only continuous history which we possess for this period 
is that of Dio Cassics (books li. to Ixii.), the lost portions of whose work 
may be supplied from the abridgment of Xiphilinus. For the earher 
Emperors the most important authority is Tacitus, whose Annals and His- 
tories gave a continuous account of Roman affairs from the closing years of 
Augustus to the death of Domitian. Unfortunately, large portions of both 
these works are lost, and no abridgment supplies their place. Much inter- 
esting information is conveyed by the biographical work of Suetonius (vitce 
xii. Ccesariim), in which time has luckily made no gaps ; but the scandalous 
stories told by this anecdote-monger are not always to be received as truth. 
Some light is thrown upon the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius by the His- 
tory of Velleius Paterculus, and on those of Galba and Otho by their 
Lives in Plutarch. The Oriental history of the period receives important 
illustration from the two great works of Josephus (^Antiquitates Judaicce 
and De Bella J udaico). 



PART I., PER. VI.] REIGN OF AUGUSTUS. 51 7 

Among monuments bearing upon the time, may be mentioned as of great 
interest and importance the — 

Marvior Ancyranum, or Great Inscription of Augustus found at Angora 
(Ancyra), containing his own account of the chief facts of his administration. 
Best edition, that of Mommsen (Res gestce D. Augusti. Berolini, 1865 ; 
8vo), in which the fragments of a Greek translation of the document, found 
at ApoUonia in Pisidia, are collated. 

Of modern works treating the history of this period, the following are the 
most valuable : 

IIoECK, K., Rotnische Geschichte vom Verfall der Repuhlik his zur Vol- 
lendung der Monarchie unter Constantin. Gottingen, 1841-50 ; Svo. 

Merivale, Rev. C, History of the Romans under the Empire. London, 
1860-1862 ; 7 vols. Svo. 

Thierry, Ajtedee, Tableau de Empire Romain jusqu'a la Chute du 
Gouvernement Imperial en Occident. Paris, 1862 ; 12mo. 

De Champagny, Les Cesars. Paris, 1859 (3d edition); 3 vols. Svo. 
With its continuation Les Antonins. Paris, 1863 ; 3 vols. Svo. 

1. If we regard the reign of Augustus as commencing 

with the victory of Actium, we must assign to his sole ad- 

EeignofAu- ^linistration the long term of forty-five years. 

gnstus, K.C 31 Pie was thirty-two years of asje when he obtain- 
to a.p.i4 His tt ni-r» 
titles audpovv- ed the Undisputed mastery of the Koman world: 

he lived to be seventy-seven. This long tenure 
of power, joined to his own prudence and sagacity, enabled 
him to settle the foundations of the Empire on so firm and 
solid a basis, that they were never, except for a moment, 
shaken afterwards. To his prudence and sagacity it was 
also due that the Empire took the particular shape which 
in point of fact it at first assumed ; that, instead of being, 
like the kingdoms of the East, an open and undisguised des- 
potism, it was an absolute monarchy concealed under re- 
publican forms. Warned by the fate of Julius, the inheritor 
of his position resolved to cloak his assumption of supreme 
and unlimited authority under all possible constitutional 
formalities. Carefully eschewing every illegal title, avoid- 
ing even the name " Dictator," to which unpleasant recollec- 
tions attached from its having been borne by Marius and 
Sulla, he built up a composite power by simply obtaining 
for himself, in a way generally recognized as legal, all the 
various offices of the State which had any real political sig- 
nificance. These offices, moreover, were mostly taken not 
in perpetuity, but for a term of years, and were renewed 
from time to time at the pressing instance of the Senate. 



513 ROME. [book v. 

Some of them were also, to a certain extent, shared with 
<)tliers — a further apparmt safeguard. State and grandeur 
were at the same time avoided ; no new insignia of office 
were introduced ; the manners and deportment of the ruler 
were citizen-like. Thus both the great parties in the State 
were fairly satisfied: it was not difficult for republicans to 
flatter themselves that the Republic still existed ; while 
monarchists were with better reason convinced that it had 
passed away forever. 

The titles and offices assumed by Augustus v.-eve the following : — (1) That 
of Imperator, or commander-in-chief, conferred on him B.C. 30, which implied 
the proconsulare imperium, or command of all the provinces ; (2) That of 
Princeps Senatns (b.c. 28), which enabled him to lead the Senate by entitling 
him to speak first on all questions which came before, it ; (3) That of per- 
petual tribune, involved in the tribunicia potestas, which he obtained B.C. 23 ; 
(4) That of perpetual consul, involved in the -consularis potestas, assumed for 
life in b.c. 19 ; (5) That of perpetual censor, involved in the. potestas censoria, 
obtained at the same date ; and (6) That of Pontifex Maximus, taken at the 
death of Lepidus, b.c. 12. The agnomen of "Augustus," and the honoraiy 
title of " Pater Patriae/' were mere distinctions, conferring no rights. 

2. The chief apparent check on the authority of Augustus 
was the Senate. Retaining the prestige of a great name, 
Position of the favorably regarded by large numbers among the 
itrA^stuslnd people, and possessed of considerable powers in 
his successors, respect of taxation, of administration, and of 
nomination to high offices, the Senate, had it been animated 
by a bold and courageous spirit, might have formed not 
merely an ornamental adjunct to the throne, but a real coun- 
terbalancing power in the State, a barrier against oppression 
and tyranny. The Senate had its own treasury {(Erarium), 
which was distinct from the privy purse (Jiscus) of the Em- 
peror ; it divided with the Emperor the government of the 
Roman world, having its own senatorial provinces {provi7icice 
Senatus)^ as he had his imperial ones {provincim Ccesaris); 
it appointed " presidents " and " proconsuls " to administer 
the one, as he did his " lieutenants " (legati) to administer 
the other. It was recognized as the ultimate seat of all civil 
power and authority. It alone conferred the " imperium," 
or right to exercise rule over the provincials and the citi- 
zens. Legally and constitutionally, the Emperor derived 
his authority from the Senate ; and it was always the ac- 
knowledgment of the Senate, by whatever means obtained, 



PART I., PER. VI.] REIGN OF AUGUSTUS. 519 

which was regarded as imparting legitimacy to the preten- 
sions of any new aspirant. The Senate was, however, pre- 
vented from proving any eifectnal check upon the "prince" 
by the cupidity and timidity w^hich prevailed among its 
members. All the bolder spirits had perished in the civil 
wars ; and the senators of Augustus, elevated or confirmed 
in their seats by him, preferred courting his favor by adula- 
tion to imperilling their jDOsition by the display of an incon- 
venient independence. As time went on, and worse Emper- 
ors than Augustus filled his place, the conduct which had 
been at first dictated by selfish hopes continued as the result 
of fear. Over the head of every, one who thwarted the im- 
perial will impended, like the sword of Damocles, the " lex 
de maj estate." By degrees the Senate relinquished all iis 
powers, or suflfered them to become merely nominal; and 
the Roman "prince" became as absolute a despot as ever 
was Oriental shah or sultan. 

The Senate of Augustus was limited to 600 members. It was composed of 
persons whose continuance in it he had safictioned on those occasions when, 
as censor, he " purged the Senate," or whom he had himself appointed. To 
obtain a seat in it, a property qualification was necessary ; and this was grad- 
ually raised by Augustus from 400,000 to 1,200,000 sesterces. It was com- 
posed, not simply of Romans and Italians, but also to a certain extent of 
provincials. Provincial members, however, were obliged to reside, and, in 
later times, to hold landed property, in Italy. 

3. During the principate of Augustus, the " people " con- 
tinued to possess some remnants of their ancient privileges. 
Gradual ex- ^^ile the Emperor nominated absolutely the con- 
tinctionotpop- suls and one-half of the other mas^istrates, the 

ularnghts. '^ ^ t r> -,. 

tribes elected, irom among candidates whom the 
•Emperor had approved, the remainder.^ Legislation followed 
its old course, and the entire series of " Leges Julise" enact- 
ed under Augustus, received the sanction of both the Senate 
and the Centuries. The judicial rights alone of the people 
were at this time absolutely extinguished, the prerogative of 
pardon which the Emperor assumed taking the place of the 
" provocatio ad populum." But the tendency of the Empire 
was, naturally, to infringe more and more on the remaining 
popular rights ; and, though a certain show of election, and 
a certain title to a share in legislation, were maintained 
by the great assemblies up to the time when the Empire fell, 



520 ROME. [book v. 

yet practically from the reign of Tiberius the people ceased 
to possess any real political power or privilege. 

4. The political power, of which the Senate and people 
were deprived, could not, in so large an empire as Rome, be 

all exercised by one man. It was necessary that 
a Privy Coun- the Emperor should either devolve upon his fa- 
"^' vorites great part of the actual work of govern- 

ment, or that he should be assisted in his laborious duties 
by a regularly constituted Council of State. The temper 
and circumstances of Augustus inclined him to adopt the 
more liberal course ; and hence the institution in his time 
(b.c. 21) of a Privy Council {concilium secretum 2)rincipis), in 
which all important affairs of State were debated and legis- 
lative measures were prepared and put into shape. The 
jealousy of his successors allowed this institution to drop out 
of the imperial system, and substituted favorites — the mere 
creatures of the prince — for the legally constituted council- 
lors of Augustus. 

The Council of Augustus consisted of the chief annual magistrates, and of 
fifteen Senators elected by the rest of the Senate for a period of six months. 
It was thus a sort of Standing Committee of the Senate. 

5. As it was the object of Augustus to conceal, so far as 
possible, the greatness of the change which his measures ef- 
Coutinuation fected in the government, the magistrates of the 
atioi?o?new^' Republic were in almost every instance maintain- 
offices. ^^^ though with powers greatly diminished. The 
State had still its consuls, praetors, quaestors, aediles, and trib- 
unes ; but these magistracies conveyed dignity rather than 
authority, and were coveted chiefly as distinctions. The 
really important offices were certain new ones, which the 
changed condition of affairs rendered necessary; as especial- 
ly, the " praefecture oi the city " {prmfectura itrhis)^ an office 
restored from the old regal times, and the commandership of 
the praetorian guard {prwfectura cohortium prmtoriarwn)^ 
which became shortly the second dignity in the State. 

The Praetorian Guard, instituted by Augustus for the security of his person, 
comprised ten cohorts of a thousand men each. It consisted exclusively of 
Italian soldiers, and included both horse and foot. Three cohorts only were 
quartered in Rome — the remainder were dispersed among the neighboring 
cities. Tiberius collected the whole body in a camp just outside the walls of 
Rome. 



PAKT I., PER. VI. J REIGN OP AUGUSTUS. 50 j 

6. It was, indeed, in the military rather than in the civil 
institutions of the empire, that something like a real check 
Power of the existed iipon the caprices of arbitrary power, so 
army. ^j^^^^ misgovern ment beyond a certain point was 

rendered dangerous. The security of the empire against 
both external and internal foes required the maintenance of 
a standing army of great magnitude; and the necessity of 
conciliating the affections, or at least retaining the respect, 
of this armed force imposed limits, that few but madmen 
overstepped, on the imperial liberty of action. Not only 
had the prsetorians and their officers to be kept in good-hu- 
mor, but the five-and-twenty or thirty legions upon the front- 
iers — no carpet soldiers, but hardy troops, the real salt of the 
Roman world — had to be favorably impressed, if an emper- 
or wished to feel himself securely seated upon his throne. 
This check was the more valuable, as, practically, none other 
existed. It sufficed, during the period with which we are 
here more especially concerned — that from Augustus to 
Com modus — to render good government the rule, and tyran- 
ny the comparatively rare exception, only about fifty-seveil 
years out of the 223 having been years of suffering and op- 
pression. 

v. The organization of the army was somewhat complica- 
ted. The entire military force may be divided under the 
itsorganiza- two heads of those troops which preserved order 
*^"°* at Rome, and those which maintained the terror 

of the Roman name in the jorovinces. The troops of the 
capital were of two kinds : (a) the prtetorians, of whom an 
account has already been given (supra, § 5), and (b) the 
" city cohorts " {cohortes urhanoe)^ a sort of armed police, 
whose number in the time of Augustus was 6000. The 
troops maintained in the provinces were likewise of two 
kinds : (c) those of the regular army, or the legionaries, and 
(c?) the irregulars, who were called " auxilia," i. e., auxilia- 
ries. The legions constituted the main strength of the sys- 
tem. They were " divisions," not " regiments." Each of 
them comprised the three elements of a Roman army:— horse, 
foot, and artillery — in certain definite proportions, and (in 
the time of Augustus) numbered probably a little under 7000 
men. Augustus maintained twenty-five legions, who formed 
thus a military force, armed and trained in the best possible 



522 ROME. [book v. 

way, which did not fall much short of 175,000. The auxil- 
iaries, or troops supplied by the provincials, were about 
equal in number. Thus the entire force maintained in the 
early empire may be reckoned at 350,000 or 360,000 men. 

The Ijegion of Augustus was organized as follows : (1) Infantry — ten 
"companies" (cohortes), containing 555 men each, except the first, which 
was of double strength, and tlierefore contained 1110 men ; total, 6105 men. 
(2) Cavalry — ten "troops" {turmce), containing 66 men each, except the 
first, which had twice the number; total, 726 men. (3) Artillery — two 
large and ten small "machinte," with a sufficiency of men to work them, 
number unknown ; probably not less than 70. Total (probable) strength of 
the entire legion, 6901. 

8. The disposition of the legions varied from time to 
time, but only within somewhat narrow limits, the military 
Disposition of Strength of tlic empire being always massed 
the legions, principally upon the northern and eastern front- 
iers, or on the lines of the Rhine, the Danube, and the Eu- 
phrates, where alone had the Romans at this date auy formi- 
dable foreign enemies. Thirteen or fourteen legions usually 
guarded the northern, or European, frontier, distributed in 
nearly equal proportions between the Rhenish and the Da- 
nubian provinces. In the East, from four to seven legions 
sufficed to keep in check the barbarians of Asia. Three le- 
gions were commonly required by Spain, which always cher- 
ished hopes of independence. The important province of 
Egypt required the presence of two legions, and the rest of 
Roman Africa was guarded by an equal number. Two le- 
gions were also usually stationed in Britain after its con- 
quest. The older and more peaceful provinces, as Gallia 
Narbonensis, Sardinia, Sicily, Macedonia, Achsea, Asia, Bi- 
thynia, etc., were unoccupied by any regular force, order 
being maintained in them by some inconsiderable native 
levies. 

9. The financial system of the Empire differed but little 
from that of the later Republic, both the sources of revenue 
Finances of and the items of expenditure being, for the most 
the Empire. ^^^.^^ identical. Augustus contented himself, in 
the main, with simplifying the practice which he found es- 
tablished, onlj^ in a very few cases adding a new impost. 
The revenue continued to be derived from the two great 
sources of (1) the State property, and (2) taxes; and these 



PART I., TER. VI.] liElGN OF AUGUSTUS. 52^ 

la^ continued to be either (a) Direct, or (b) Indirect. The 
chief expenditure was on the military force, land and naval ; 
on the civil service ; on public works ; and on shows and 
largesses. It is difficult to form an exact estimate of the 
probable amount of these several items ; but, on the whole, 
it seems most likely that the entire annual expenditure must 
have amounted to at least twenty-five millions of pounds 
sterling. 

The principal alterations made by Augustus were: — (1) The substitution 
of a fixed money payment for the tribute in kind previously levied in the 
provinces ; (2) The imposition of the vicesivia hcereditatium et legatorum, or 
five per cent, legacy duty, payable by all Koman citizens on property left 
them by any other than their next of kin ; and (3) The imposition of restric- 
tions on celibacy by the Lex Papia Poppcea, which augmented the revenue 
by the forfeitures incurred under it. Augustus also distributed at his will 
the different items of revenue between the cerarmm and the^scws (see § 2), 
enriching the latter at the expense of the former. 

10. Though it was as a civil administrator that Augustus 
obtained his chief reputation, yet much of his attention was 
Wars of Au- ^^^^ givcu to military affairs, and the w\ars in 
gustus iu which he eno^aojed, either in person or by his lieu- 
tia, Arabia, tenants, Were numerous and important. Ihe 

auuoiiia.e c. complete Subjugation of Northern and North- 
western Spain was effected, partly by himself, partly by 
Agrippa and Carisius, in the space of nine years, from b.c. 27 
to 19. In B.C. 24, an attempt was made by ^lius Gallus to 
extend the dominion of Rome into the spice region of Ara- 
bia Felix ; but this expedition Avas unsuccessful. Better for- 
tune attended on th(j efforts of the Emperor's step-sons, Dru- 
sus and Tiberius, in the years b.c. 16 and 15, to reduce the 
independent tribes of the Eastern Alps, especially the RhaB- 
tians and Yindelicians. Two campaigns sufficed for the 
complete reduction of the entire tract between the Lombar- 
do- Venetian plain and the course of the Upper Danube, the 
"foi'tress of modern freedom." More difficulty, however, 
was experienced in subduing the tribes of the Middle and 
Lower Danube. In Noricum, Pannonia, and Moesia, a gal- 
lant spirit of independence showed itself; and it was only 
after frequent revolts that the subjugation of these tracts 
was effected (between b.c. 12 and a.d. 9). 

11. But the most important of all the Roman wars of this 
period was that with the Germans. The rapid conquest of 



52 i ROME. [kook v. 

Failure of the Gaul and of the tracts south of the Danube en- 
subdue*Ger- couragecl the Romans to hope for similar success 
many. against the tribes Avho dwelt in Central Europe, 

between the Danube and the Baltic. In a military point 
of view, it would have been a vast gain, could they have 
advanced their frontier to the line of the Vistula and the 
Dniester. Augustus seems to have conceived such a design. 
Accordingly, from about the year b.c. 12, systematic efforts 
were made for the subjugation of the German races east of 
the Rhine and north of the Danube, the Usipetes, Chatti, Si- 
gambri, Suevi, Cherusci, Marcomanni, etc. Fi'om the year 
B.C. 12 to A.D. 5, a continuous series of attacks was direct- 
ed against these nations, first by Drusus, and then, after his 
death (b.c. 9), by Tiberius. Yast armies penetrated deep 
into the interior; fleets coasted the northei'n shore and as- 
cended the great rivers to co-operate with the land force; 
forts were erected ; the Roman language and laws were in- 
troduced; and the entire tract between the Rhine and the 
Elbe was brought into apparent subjection. But the real 
spirit of the nation was unsubdued. After a brief period of 
sullen submission (a.d. 5 to 8), revolt suddenly broke out 
(a.d. 9). Arminius, a prince of the Cherusci, took the lead. 
The Romans were attacked, three entire legions under Va- 
rus destroyed, and German independence recovered. Hence- 
forth, though Rome sometimes, in ostentation, or as a meas- 
ure of precaution, marched her armies into the district be- 
tween the Rhine and the Elbe, yet no attempt was made at 
conquest or permanent occupation. The Rhine and Danube 
became the recognized limits of the empire, and, except the 
Agri Decumates, Rome held no land on the right bank of 
the former river. 

Details op the War with Germany. Tire war began with an attack 
by Drusus in B.C. 12, Avhich Avas chiefly from the sea-board, and had no great 
success. Fresh expeditions were made, however, by land, in u.c. 11 and 9, 
ttnder the conduct of the same prince, and in these he had better fortune. 
He reduced the Chatti, caused the Marcomanni to retire eastward, ravaged 
the country of tlie Cherusci, and reached (b.c. 11) the banks of the Weser, 
and (b.c. 9) those of the Elbe. He died, however,, in the last-named year, 
from the effects of an accident, on his return from his expedition. The com- 
mand was then assigned to Tiberius, who held it for two years (b.c. 8 to 7), 
when he was succeeded by Domitius ^nobarbus, who was followed by Vini- 
cius. Tiberius then, on his retm-n from Rhodes, once more took the conduct 



TART I., PER. VI.] KEIGN OF AUGUSTUS. 525 

of the war (a.d. 4), and making his attack both by hind and sea, gained im- 
portant successes. Almost all the tribes between the Rhine and Elbe sub- 
mitted to him. He was proceeding (in a.d, G) to invade the Marcomanni in 
their new country of Bohemia, when the revolt in Pannonia (see § 10) called 
him off to the recovery of that province. Quintilius Varus succeeded him 
in the command, and, discontinuing warlike operations, applied himself' to 
the organization of the submitted territory ; but his measures, which were 
harsh, disgusted the populations, and drove them to revolt under Arminius 
(a.d. 9). The destruction of the legions and recoveiy of independence fol- 
lowed in the same year. In a.d. 10, Tiberius for the third time took the 
command; but his efforts were now confined to the mere re-establishment 
of the honor of Rome by incursions across the Rhine, which the Germans 
did not venture to resist. The same course was pursued by Germanicus 
during the short remainder of Augustus's reign (a.d. 12 to 14). 

12. The internal tranquillity of Rome was during the 
whole of Augustus's long reign never once interrupted. 
Flourishing Revolutionary passions had to a great extent 
condition of exhausted themselves, and the piiidence and' vis:- 

the Roman . , ' i t m 

world under ilance 01 the ^.mj^ei'or never relaxed. The arts 
Augustus. of peace flourished. Augustus "found Rome of 
brick and left it of marble." He gave a warm encourage- 
ment to literature, and with such effect that the most bril- 
liant period of each nation's literary liistory is wont to take 
name from him. Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Tibullus, Propertius, 
Varius, Livy, adorned his court, and formed an assemblage 
of talent never surpassed and rarely equalled. Commerce 
pursued its course securely under his rule, and, though a 
little checked by sumptuary laws, became continually more 
and more profitable. Much attention was given to agricul- 
ture ; and the productiveness of the land, both in Italy and 
the provinces, increased. Altogether, the Augustan age 
must be regarded as one of much material prosperity, ele- 
gance, and refinement ; and it can create no surprise that 
the mass of the population were contented with the new 
regime. 

13. The "good-fortune" of Augustus, which the ancients 
admired, was limited to his public, and did not attach to his 
Domestic mis- P^'ivate life. He suffiered greatly from ill health, 
AuSistus"^ more especially in his earlier years. Though 
Helidopts his thrice married — to Claudia, to Scribonia, and to 
berius, and Livia — lie had no son; and his only daughter, 
hfra^a" hi^s^uc Julia, disgraced him by her excesses. His first 
cessor. son-iu-law, Marcellus, was cut off" by sickness in 



526 HOME. [book v. 

the flower of his age ; and his second, Agrippa, died when 
he was but a little more than fifty. Towards his third, Ti- 
berius, he never felt warmly ; and it was from nQcessity 
rather than choice that he raised him to the second place 
in' the empire. It was no doubt among his most cherished 
wishes to have been succeeded by one of his own blood ; but 
of the three sons born to his daughter, Julia, the two elder, 
Caius and Lucius, died just as they reached manhood, the 
latter in a.d. 2, the former in a.d. 4, while the third, Agrippa 
Posthumus, was of so dull and stolid a temperament, that 
not even the partiality of family afiection could blind the 
Emperor to his unfitness. Deprived thus of all support from 
those of his own race and lineage, Augustus in his old age 
was forced to lean wholly upon his wife and the male scions 
of her family. These were Tiberius, the son, and Germani- 
( us, the grandson of Livia, son of the deceased Drusus. 
^Vhen the aged Emperor, feeling the approach of death, re- 
solved to make distinct arrangements for the succession, his 
choice fell on the former, whom he adopted, and associated 
with himself in some of the most important of the imperial 
functions. At the same time, he required Tiberius to adopt 
his nephew, Germanicus, and gave the latter the hand of 
his own granddaughter, Agrippina. Augustus lived to see 
(a.d. 12) the birth of a great-grandson, the issue of this 
union, and thus left one male descendant, who in course of 
time inherited his crown. 

Special works on the life and times of Augustus were written in the last 
century by Blackwell and Larry ; but these can not be recommended to 
the reader. Of far greater importance are the following : 

LoEBELL, Ueber das Principat des Augustus, in Raumer's Historisches 
Taschenhuch, for the year 1834, 

Weichert, a., Imperatoris Ccvsaris Augusti Scriptorum Reliquice ; Fasc. 
i., Grim£B, 1841; 4to. 

14. Augustus died a.d. 14, in the seventy-seventh year of 
his age. There is no reason to believe that his end was 
Eeif'nofTibc- ^^^stened by Livia, or by any of those about him. 
rius%.D. 14- His health had long been giving way, and, but 
ances at his for the tender care of his attached wife, he would 
probably have died sooner. His place was taken, 
after some coquetry, by Tiberius, with the entire assent of 
the Senate and people of Rome, though not without opposi- 



PART 1., ii:R. vi.J REIGN OF TIBERIUS. 527 

tion on the part of the army. It is important to observe 
that, even at this early date, the legions had an inkling of 
their strength, and would have proclaimed an emperor, and 
drawn their swords in his cause, had not the object of their 
choice, Germanicus, shrunk from the treason. Tiberius was 
indebted to the generosity of his young kinsman, or to his 
want of ambition, for his establishment in the imperial dig- 
nity without a struggle. It is perhaps not surprising that 
he felt more jealousy than gratitude towards one who had 
been proclaimed his rival; but he can not be exonerated 
from blame for so manifesting his jealousy as to make it 
generally felt that to vex, thwart, or injure his nephew was 
the shortest w^ay to his favor. 

15. The reign of Tiberius may be conveniently divided 
into three periods: — (l) From his accession to his retire- 
Tripie ciivis- ^^^"^ ^^'^^" *^^^ Capital (a.d: 14 to 26 = 12 years); 
ion of h^ (2) From his retirement to the death of Seianus 

reign. First ) ' . . '^ 

Period, A.D. (a.d. 26 to 31=5 years) ; and (3) From the death 
of Sejanus to his own (a.d. 31 to 37=6 years). 
The main events of the first period were the exploits and 
death of Germanicus ; the rise of Sejanus to power; and the 
death of Drusus, Tiberius's only son. During three years 
Germanicus attempted the re-conquest of Western Germany, 
and ravaged Avith his legions the entire country between the 
Rhine and the Elbe. But no permanent effect was produced 
by his incursions ; and Tiberius, after a while, removed him 
from the West to the East, fearful j^erhaps of his becoming 
too dear to the German legions. In the management of the 
East he gave him as a coadjutor the ambitious and reckless 
Piso, who sought to bring his administration into contempt, 
and was believed to have removed him by poison. It is 
perhaps uncertain whether Germanicus did not really die a 
natural death, though his own conviction that he was poi- 
soned is indubitable. 

Cappadocia and Commagene were not formally reduced to the condition 
of Roman provinces till the arrival of Germanicus in the East, a.d. 17. Pre- 
viously to this they were Roman dependencies under native kings. Armenia 
continued in this condition. 

16. The rise of Sejanus to power is to be connected with 
RiseofSeja- the general policy of Tiberius as a ruler, which 
nus to power, ^^^g characterized by a curious mixture of sus- 



528 HOME. [uooiv v. 

piciousness with over-confidence. Distrusting his own abil- 
ities, doubtful of his right to the throne, he saw on every 
side of liini possible rivals — aspirants Avho might thrust him 
from his high place. The noblest and wealthiest of the Pa- 
tricians, the members and connections of the Julian house, 
and the princes of his own flxmily, were the especial objects 
of his jealousy. These, therefore, he sought to depress ; he 
called none of them to his aid ; he formed of them no "Privy 
Council," as Augustus had done, but resolved to administer 
the entire empire by his own unassisted exertions. Inde- 
fatigable as he was in business, this, after a while, he found 
to be impossible; and he was thus led to look out for a 
helper, who should be too mean in origin and position to be 
dangerous, while he possessed the qualities which would 
render him useful. Such an one he tliought to have found 
in jElius Sejanus, the' mere son of a Roman knight, a pro- 
vincial of Yulsinii, whom he made " PrcTtorian Prefect," and 
who gradually acquired over him the most unbounded in- 
fluence. 

As with his chief assistant at Kome, so with his lesser assistants in the 
provinces, Tiberius chose them carefully from among those whom he did not 
fear, and then continued them, without change or recall, in their govern- 
ments. 

17. The death of Drusus was the result of the criminal 
ambition of Sejanus, which nothing could content short of 
Death of Dm- the first place in the empire. Having seduced 
mlntiiTtt Livilla, the wife of Drusus and niece of Tiberius, 
riustoCaprete. gejanus, with her aid, took him oif by poison (a.d. 
23). His crime being undiscovered, he soon afterwards 
(a.d. 25) requested the permission of Tiberius to marry the 
widow. The request took Tiberius by surprise ; it opened 
his eyes to his favorite's ambition, but it did not at once de- 
stroy his influence. Declining the proposal made to him, he 
allowed his minister to persuade him to quit Rome, retire to 
Capreae, and yield into his hands the entire conduct of afiairs 
at the capital. 

18. The influence of Sejanus was now at its height, and 
was made use of in two ways — to remove the chief remain- 
second Peri- ing members of the imperial family, and to ob- 
F^iii'of s?S^' *^"^ ^^^^ ^^^^ admission into it. By lies and in- 
uus. trigues he procured the arrest and imprisonment 



1-AKT i„ lEK. VI.] IIEIGN OF TIBERIUS. 509 

of Agrippina and her two elder sons, Nero and Drusus. By 
pressing his claims, he obtained at last the consent of the 
Emperor to the marriage whereto he aspired, and was actu- 
ally betrothed to Livilla. At the same time, he Avas made 
joint consul with his master. But at this point his good- 
fortune stopped. In the very act of raising his favorite so 
liiglj, the Emperor had become jealous of him. Signs of his 
changed feelings soon appeared ; and Sejanus, anxious to an- 
ticipate the blow which he felt to be impending, formed a 
plot to assassinate his master. Failing, however, to act with 
due promptness, he was betrayed, degraded from his com- 
mand, seized^ and executed, a.d. 31. 

19. It might have been hoped that Tiberius, relieved from 
the influence of his cruel and crafty minister, would have re- 
Third Period, vcrtcd to the (comparatively) mild policy of his 
Rcigao?Ter- ^^arlicr years.. But the actual result was the re- 
»"o'". verse of this. The discovery that he had been 
deceived in the man on whom alone he had reposed confi- 
dence, rendered him more suspicions than ever. The knowl- 
edge, which he now acquired, that his own son had been 
murdered, affrighted Iiim. Hencefortli Tiberius became a 
monster of tyranny, because he trusted no one, because he 
saw in merit of whatever kind at once a reproach and a dan- 
ger. Hence a "Reign of Terror" followed the execution ot 
Sejanus. In the fall of the favorite all his friends, all who 
had paid court to him, were implicated ; in the guilt of Li- 
villa, the equal guilt of the other relatives of Germani- 
cus was regarded as proved. Nero, therefore, Drusus, and 
Agrippina, as well as Livilla, Avere put to death; hundreds 
of nobles, men, women, and even children, were massacred. 
The cruel tyrant, skulking in his island abode, issued his 
bloody decrees, and at the same time gave himself up to 
strange and unnatural forms of profligacy, seeking in them, 
^., . ^. perhaps, a refuge from remorse. At lenorth,when 

Tiberius dies. ^ ,-^-' ^ t ■, - .,,^' 

he had reached his seventy -eighth year, his 
strong constitution failed, and he died after a short illness, 
A.D. 37. 

20. The political and legal changes belonging to the reign 
Legal aud con- of Tibcrius wcre not many in number, but they 
chauge"dur- ^^'^re of Considerable importance. Among his first 
iug his reigu. acts was the extinction of the last vestig^e of pop- 

23 



530 HOME. [book v. 

ular liberty, by the withdrawal from the "comitia tribu- 
ta"ofall share in the appointment of magistrates. Their 
right of selection from among the Emperor's canelidates was 
transferred to the Senate, and henceforth the tribes met 
merely pro forma, to confirm the choice of that body. A 
second, and still more vital, change tv^s the usurpation by 
the Emperor of the right to condemn to death, and execiite 
iDithout trials all those who were obnoxious to him, or at any 
rate all whom the tribunals had once committed to prison. 
A third innovation was the extension of the "lex de majes- 
tate " to words and even thoughts, and the introduction by 
these means of " constructive treason " into the list of capi- 
tal oifenses. It is scarcely necessary to observe ho^v these 
changes tended in the direction of despotism, which was still 
further promoted by the establishment of the entire body of 
praetorian guards in a camj) immediately outside of Rome, 
for the sole purpose of overawing, and, if need Avere, coercing 
the citizens. 

On the character of Tiberius, the reader may consult the work of A. Stahr, 
Tiberius. Berlin, 1863 ; 8vo. 

21. The demise of Tiberius revealed a vital defect in the 
imperial system, viz., the want of any regular and establish- 
Cains (or Ca- ed law of succession. Tiberius had associated 
ce"ed?TTberi- iio^^ody, had designated nobody by his will, had 
"s- left the State to shift for itself, careless whether 

or no there followed on his decease a deluge. Under these 
circumstances, the Senate, the proetorians, and the people 
might all conceive that the right of appointing an imperator, 
if not even that of determining whether or no any new im- 
perator should be appointed, rested with them. A collision 
might easily have occurred, but the circumstances were for- 
tunately such as to produce a complete accord between 
the three possible disputants. Soldiers, Senate, and people 
united in putting aside any glowing dream of the Republic, 
and in calling to the throne Caius, the only surviving son of 
Germanicus and Agrippina, whose parentage rendered him 
universally popular, while his age was suitable, and his char- 
acter, so far as it was known, unobjectionable. 

Besides Caius, the only tAVO persons Avhose connection with previous im- 
perators pointed them out to notice were Claudius, the brother of Germani- 
cus, and Tiberius Gemellus, the son of Drusus and grandson of Tibeiins. 



TART I., PER. VI.] KEIGN OF CAIUS. 531 

But the latter was too young (he was but 17) to be regarded as capable of 
discharging the duties of an emperor ; while the former was a recluse, Avhose 
existence was scarcely known joutside the palace. Thus Caius had, practical- 
ly, no rival. 

22. The reign of Caius, or Caligula, as he is generally 
termed, lasted less than four years (from March, a. d. 37, to 
Rei^iiofCai- January, A.D. 41), but was long enough to fully 
us, A.D. 37-41. clisplay the disastrous effects of the possession of 
arbitrary power on a weak and ill-balanced mind. At first 
mild, generous, and seemingly amiable, he rapidly degener- 
ated into a cruel and fantastic tyrant, savage, merciless, and 
mocking. Dissipating in a few months the vast hoards of 
Tiberius, who had left in the treasury a sum exceeding 
twenty-one millions of our money, he was driven to supply 
his needs, in part by an oppressive taxation, but mainly from 
confiscations of large estates, to procure which it was only 
necessary to make a free use of the law of " majestas." Ex- 
ecutions, suicides, exiles followed each other throughout his 
reign in an unceasing succession, the Emperor becomingt 
more and more careless of bloodshed. The most wanton ex- 
travagance exhausted the resources of the State. Not con- 
tent with the ordinary forms of profligacy, Caius lived in 
open incest with his sister, Drusilla. After his own severe 
illness, and her death (a.d. 38), the violence of his feelings, 
which he had long ceased to control, and the strange con- 
trast, which those events brought home to him, between his 
weakness and his strength, his unlimited power over the lives 
of others, and his impotence to avert death, seem to have 
shattered his reason, and to have rendered him actually in- 
sane. His self-deification, his architectural extravagances, 
his absurd expeditions and still wilder projects, which all be- 
long to the latter half of his reign, have been justly thought 
to indicate that his mind was actually unhinged. The awful 
spectacle of a madman absolute master of the civilized world 
is here presented to us ; and the peril inherent in the despot- 
ic form of government is shown in the clearest light. The 
human suffering compressed into Caligula's short reign can 
scarcely be calculated. What would have been the result, 
had he been allowed to live out his natural term of life? 
His murder Fortunately for the world, tyranny, when it 
reaches a certain point, provokes resistance. 



532 ROME. ■ [book v. 

Caius was struck down in the fourth year of his reign, and 
the thirtieth of his life, by the swords of two of his guards, 
whom he had insulted beyond endurance. 

23. This sudden blow, whereby the State was left wiiolly 
without a head, was an event for which the imperial consti- 
importauce of tution had made no provision ; and its occurrence 
the crisis. produced a crisis of vast importance for its eftect 
on the imperial constitution itself, which suffered a modifica- 
tion. Two questions presented themselves to be determined 
by the course of events: — (l) "Was the Empire accidental 
and temporary, or was it tlie regular and established form 
of government ?" And (2) " In the latter case, with whom 
did it rest, in case of a sudden vacancy for which no prepa- 
ration had been made, to select a successor?" The all but 
entire abolition of the Comitia put the claim of the people 
to be heard on either point out of the question : the deter- 
mination necessarily rested with the Senate or the soldiers. 
Had the Senate been sufficiently prompt, it might not im- 
^probably have determined both points in its own favor ; it 
might have restored the Kepublic, or it might have nomi- 
nated an emperor. But it was unprepared; it hesitated; 
it occupied itself with talk ; and the opportunity, w^hich it 
might have seized, passed away forever. For the praeto- 
rians, accidentally finding Claudius in the palace, and aware 
of the hesitation of the Senate, assumed the right of choice, 
proclaimed him emperor, and thereby asserted and estab- 
lished both the fixity of the Empire and the right of the 
army to nominate the imperator. Henceforth for more than 
half a century the nominees of the army w^ore the crown, and 
the Senate was content Avith the mere ratification of the 
army's choice. 

It was not till the tyranny of Domitian had thrown discredit on the sol- 
diers' emperors that the Senate (a.d. 96) once more took' heart, and ventured 
to nominate a sovereign. 

24. Claudius, who succeeded Caius, was his uncle, being 
the younger brother of Germanicus, and thus, though con- 
Reio-n of ciau- "^^^^ed with the Julian house, not by birth a 
dins', A.n. 41- member of it. His reisjn la^ed between thirteen 

54. Influeuce n -r r\ 

of his wives and fourteen years, from January, a.d. 41, to Oc- 
tober, A.D. 54. Though mild, diligent, and well- 
intentioned, he was by nature and education unfitted to rule, 



PAKT i.,PER.vi.] KEIGN OF CLAUDIUS. 533 

more especially in a corrupt commonwealth. Shy, weak, and 
awkward, he had been considered from his birth " wanting," 
had been debarred from public life till he was forty-six years 
of age, and had acquired the temper and habits of a recluse 
student. Left to himself, he might have reigned respecta- 
bly; but it was his misfortune to fall under the influence 
of persons grievously unprincipled, whose characters he was 
unable to read, and who made him their tool and cat's-paw. 
His wives, Messalina and Agrippina, and his freedmen, Pal- 
las and Narcissus, had tlie real direction of affairs during his 
reign ; and it Avas to them, and not to Claudius himself, that 
the corruption and cruelties which disgraced his principate 
were owing; The death of the infamous Messalina, to which 
he consented, can not be charged against him as a crime, 
for it was thoroughly merited ; and the sway of Agrippina, 
though in the end it had disastrous effects, was not without 
counterbalancing advantages. The princess who recalled 
Seneca from exile and made him her son's tutor, w^ho ad- 
vanced to power the honest Burrhus, and protected many an 
accused noble, can not be regarded as wholly a malign influ- 
ence. Her fear of suffering the jDunishment due to her infi- 
delity, and her natural desire to see her son upon the throne. 
Murdered by ^^d her on at last to crime of the deepest dye. 
Agrippina. gj-^g ^q^]^ advantage of her position to poison the 
unhappy Claudius in the sixty-fourth year of his age, and 
the fourteenth of his reign. 

In the reign of Claudius several useful and important works were con- 
structed ; the empire received further consolidation ; and in one direction its 
bounds were considerably extended. Of the " works," the most remarkable 
were the "Aqua Claudia" and the "Aqua Aniena Nova," two great aque- 
ducts which brought water to Kome from a distance of forty miles ; the 
"Portus Romanus," or new harbor at Ostia; and the "Emissarium Fuci- 
num," or tunnel to carry oiF the superfluous waters of Lake Fucinus. The 
consolidation of the empire was advanced by changing Mauretania(A.D. 42), 
Lycia (a.b. 43), Judasa (a.d. 44), and Thrace (a.d. 47) from dependencies 
into actual provinces. The extension of the empire was towards the north- 
west, where Britain was conquered, mainly by A. Plautius, but partly by 
Claudius in person, as far north as a line drawn from the Wash to the mouth 
of the Dee (see pp. 514, 515). 

25. Claudius left behind him a son, Britannicus, who was 
however but thirteen years old at his father's death. The 
crown, therefore, naturally fell to his adopted son, Nero, who 



534 ROME. [book v. 

Reign of l^ad married his daughter, Octavia, and who was, 
S^^%ts"ea?iy nioreover, a direct descendant of Augustus. Pro- 
promise, claimed by the praetorians as soon as the demise 
of his father-in-law was known, he was at once accepted 
by the Senate, whom the circumstances of the elevation of 
Claudius (see § 23) had made conscious of their weakness. 
The feelings which greeted his accession were similar to 
those called forth on a similar occasion by Caligula. Noth- 
ing but good could, it was thought, proceed from the grand- 
son of Germanicus, the comrade of Lucan, the pupil of Sene- 
ca. Nor were these hopes disappointed for a considerable 
time. During the first five years of his principate — the fa- 
mous " quinquennium Neronis " — all went well, at any rate, 
outside the palace ; the " golden age " seemed to have re- 
turned ; Nero forbade delation, remitted taxes, gave liberal 
largesses, made assignments of lands, enriched the treasury 
from his private stores, removed some of the burdens of the 
provincials. During this period Seneca and Burrhus were 
ins advisers; and their judicious counsels produced a mild 
but firm government. Within the palace there were, indeed. 
His first great already scandals and crimes: the impatient son 
crime. j^j-^^j ^j^g exacting mother soon quarrelled ; and 

the quarrel led to the first of Nero's domestic tragedies, the 
poisoning of Britannicus (a.d. 55). This was soon followed 
by the disgrace of the queen-mother, who was banished from 
court and made the object of cruel suspicions. The gay 
prince, passing his time in amusements and debaucheries, fell 
now (a.d. 58) under the influence of a fierce and ambitious 
woman, the infamous Poppaea Sabina, wife of Otho, who con- 
sented to be his mistress, and aspired to become 

His liiter p''of- 

ligacyancityr- his queen. At her instigation Nero assassinated 
'^""^* first his mother Agrippina (a.d. 59), and then his 

wife Octavia (a.d. 62), whom he had previously repudiated. 
He now plunged into evil courses of all kinds. He murder- 
ed Burrhus, broke with Seneca, and put himself under the 
direction of a new favorite, Tigellinus, a man of the worst 
character. Henceforth he was altogether a tyrant. Peck- 
less in his extravagance, he encouraged delation in order to 
replenish his treasury ; he oppressed the provincials by im- 
posing on them forced contributions, over and above the 
taxes ; he shocked public opinion by performing as a singer 



PART I., PKK. VI.] REIGN OF NEKO. 535* 

and n charioteer before his subjects; he displayed complete 
indifference to the sufferings of the Romans at the time of 
the great fire ; he openly encouraged prostitution and even 
worse vices ; and he began the cruel practice of persecuting 
Jews and Christians for their opinions, which disgraced the 
empire from his time to that of Constantine. After this tyr- 
anny had encfured for five years, something of a spirit of re- 
sistance appeared; conspiracy ventured to raise its head, but 
only to be detected and struck down (a.d. G5). Fear now 
made the Emperor more cruel than ever. Executions and 
assassinations followed each oth<^r in more and more rapid 
succession. All the rich and powerful, all the descendants 
of Augustus, all those who were noted for virtue, lost their 
lives. At last he grew jealous of his own creatures, the leg- 
ates who commanded legions upon the frontiers, and deter- 
mined on sacrificing them. The valiant Corbulo, command- 
er of the forces of the East, was entrapped and executed. 
Kufus and Proculus Scribonius, who had the chief authority 
in the two Germanics, were recalled and forced to kill them- 
selves. A similar fate menaced all the chiefs of legions, who, 
. on learning their peril, rose in arms against the 
geJerais. His tymut. Galba and Otho in Spain, Vindex in 
'^^^^^* Gaul, Claudius Macer in Africa, Virginius Rufus 

and Fonteius Capito in Germany, raised the standard of re- 
volt almost at the same time. The multitude of pretenders 
to empire seemed at first to promise ill for the cause of re- 
bellion, and in one case there was actual war between the 
troops of two of them, terminating in the death of one (Vin- 
dex) ; but after a while, by general agreement, Galba Avas 
chosen to conduct the contest, and, all chance of dividing his 
adversaries beilig over, the hopes of Nero fell. Deserted on 
all hands, even by Tigellinus and the praetorians,^ he was 
forced to call on a slave to dispatch him, that he might not 
fall alive into the hands of his enemies. IS^ero died on the 
9th of June, a.d. 68, at the age of thirty, in the fourteenth 
year of his principate. 

The chief events in the external histoiy of Rome belonging to the reign of 
Nero were:—!. The revolt of Britain under Boadicea (a.d. 61), with the 
destruction of Camulodunum and Londinium, and the recovery of the prov- 
ince by Suetonius Paulinus ; 2. The war with the Parthians and Armeni- 
ans waged by Corbulo (a.d. 56 to 63), which advanced Terminus slightly at 



'530 liO.ME. [iiooiv V. 

the extreme north-east corner of the empire ; and 3. The commencement 
of the Jewish war (a.d, G6), in consequence of the oppressive government of 
Gessius Florus. The discipline of the legions was still for the most part 
maintained successfully ; and the superiority of the Roman arms was exhib- 
ited or confessed on every frontier. 

26. Though the law of hereditary succession in the em- 
pire had at no time been formally established, or even ^s- 
Resnitsofthe scrted with any distinctness under the early Cse- 
the'jSian ^^ ^^^'^' J^^ there can be no doubt that the extinc- 
house. tion of the Julian family by the death of Nero 
paved the way for fresh civil commotions, by practically 
opening the prospect of obtaining supreme power to numer- 
ous claimants. Hitherto the Romans had not in fact looked 
for an imperator beyond the members, actual or adopted, of 
a single liouse. Henceforth the first place in the State was 
a prize at which any one might aim, no family ever subse- 
quently obtaining the same hold on power, or the same pres- 
tige in the eyes of the Romans as the Julian. 

27. S. Sulpicius Galba, who became emperor in April, a.d. 
68, by the will of the Spanish legions, and the acquiescence 
Reign of Gal- of his* brother-commanders in Gaul and Germany, 
ba, A.D. 68-69. ^j^g ^ Roman cast in the antique mould — severe, 
simple, unbending. He w^as thus ill fitted to bear rule in a 
state so corrupt as Rome had come to be ; and the disasters 
which followed his appointment might have been antici- 
pated by any one possessed of moderate foresight. His 
strictness and his parsimony disgusted at once the soldiers 
and the populace ; and Avhen Otho, who had hoped to be 
nominated his successor, turned against him on account of 
his adopting Piso Licinianus, he found himself with scarce- 
ly a friend, and was almost instantly overpo^^ered and slain 
(January 15, a.d. 69). His adopted son, Piso, shared his 
fate ; and the obsequious Senate at once acknowledged 
Otho as Emperor. 

28. M. Salvius Otho, the husband of the infamous Poppsea 
Sabina, was a dissolute noble, who had run through a long 

er.i-u course of vice, and Avhb, having^ exhausted all 

EeignofOtho, . ' '. ^ .=• . • • p 

Jan. to April, Other cxcitcments, determmed m the spirit oi a 
gambler to play for empire. Successful in seiz- 
ing the throne, he found his right to it disputed by another 
of Galba's officers, the commander of the German legions. 



PART I., PER. VI.] GALEA, OTHO, AND VITELLIUS. 537 

Vitellius. Nothing daunted, he resolved to appeal to the 
arbitrament of arms, and to bring matters to an issue as 
soon as possible. When in the great battle of Bedriacum 
fortune declared against him, he took her at her word, gave 
up the struggle as carelessly as he had begun it, and by a 
prompt suicide made the empire over to his rival. Otho 
died, April 16, a.d. 69, after a reign of barely three months. 

29. In exchanging the rule of Otho for that of Vitellius, 
the Roman world lost rather than gained. Otho was profli- 
Keigu of vi- gate, reckless, sensual ; but he was brave. Yi- . 
to i)ec.^Ji^ tellius had all Otho's vices in excess, and, in ad- 
C9- ' dition, was cowardly and vacillating. He gained 

the empire not by his own exertions, but by those of his 
generals, Caecina and Valens. Having gained it, he speedily 
lost it by weakness, laziness, and incapacity. We search his 
character in vain for any redeeming trait : he possessed no 
one of the qualities, moral or mental, which fit a man to be a 
ruler. What was most peculiar in him was his wonderful 
gluttony, a feature of his character in which he was unrival- 
led. It is not sui'prising that the Roman world declined to 
acquiesce long in his rule ; for while, morally, he was equal- 
ly detestable with the worst prmces of the Julian house, 
intellectually he was far their inferior. The standard of 
Revolt of ves- rcvolt was raiscd against him, after he had reign- 
Ss^Sfhif^'^' ^^ ^ ^^^^ months, by Vespasian, commander in 
success. Judaea, who was supported by Mucianus, the 

president of Syria, and the legions of the East generally. 
The analogy of the previous civil contests would have led 
us to expect the defeat of an aspirant who, with troops de- 
rived from this quarter, assailed the master of the West. 
But Vespasian had advantages at no former time possessed 
by any Oriental pretender. He was infinitely superior, as 
a general and statesman, to his antagonist. He had all the 
" respectability " of the empire in his favor, a general disgust 
being felt at the degrading vices and stupid supineness of 
Vitellius. Above all, he did not depend upon the East sole- 
ly, but was supp'orted also by the legions of the central 
provinces — Mcesia, Pannonia, lUyricum — troops as brave and 
hardy as any in the whole empire. Hence his attack was 
successful. Securing in his own person Egypt, ^e granary 
of Rome, he sent his generals, Antonius Primus and Muci- 

23* 



538 ROME. [book v. 

anus, into Italy. The (second) battle of Bedriacum, which 
was gained by Antonius, in fact decided the contest; but it 
was prolonged for several months, chiefly through the ob- 
stinacy of the Vitellian soldiery, ^vho would not permit their 
leader to abdicate. In a struggle which followed between 
the two parties inside the city, the Capitol was assaulted 
and taken, the Capitoline temple burnt, and Flavins Sabinus, 
the brother of Vespasian, slain. Soon afterwards the Fla- 
vian army stormed and took Rome, defeated and destroyed 
tlie Vitellians, and, obtaining possession of the Em^^erors 
person, put him to an ignominious death. 

30. Though Vitellius did not perish till December 21, a.d. 

69, yet the accession of his successor, T. Flavins Yespasianus, 

• ^^ was dated from the 1st of July, nearly six months 

KeignofVes- ,. ^^ . • j / /r- 

pasian, A.D. 69 earlier. Vespasian reigned ten years (irom a.d. 
~'^' 69 to 79), and did much to recover the empire 

from the state of depression and exhaustion into which the 
civil struggles of the two preceding years had brought it. 
By his general, Cerialis, he suppressed the revolt of Ger- 
many and eastern Gaul, which, under Ciyilis, Sabinus, and 
Classicus, had threatened to deprive Rome of some of her 
most important provinces. By the skill and valor of his 
elder son, Titus, he put down the rebellion of the Jews, and 
destroyed the magnificent city which alone, of all the cities 
of the earth, was, by her beauty and her prestige, a rival to 
the Roman metropolis. The limits of the empire were dur- 
ing his reign advanced in Britain from the line of the Dee 
and Wash, to that of the Solway Frith and Tyne, by the 
generalship of Agricola, The finances, which had fallen into 
complete disorder, were replaced upon a sound footing. The 
discipline of the army, w^hich Otho and Vitellius had great- 
ly relaxed, was re-established. Employment was given to 
the people by the construction of great works, as, particular- 
ly, the Temple of Peace, and the Flavian Amphitheatre or 
" Coliseum." Education and literature w^ere encouraged by 
grants of money to their professors. The exceptional treat- 
ment of the Stoics, who were banished from Rome, arose 
from political motives, and was perhaps a state necessity. 
Altogether, Vespasian must be regarded as the best ruler 
that Rome^Jiad had since Augustus — a ruler who knew how 
to combine firmness with leniency, economy with libe'rality. 



pAiiT I., PEK. VI.] VESPASIAN AND TITUS. 539 

and a generally pacific policy with military vigor upon 
proper occasion. 

Details of Vespasian's Wars. (1) War with Civilis, a.d. 69, 70. 
Civilis aimed iit establishing an independent Germany on the left bank of 
the Rhine. Professing a wish to help Vespasian and injure Vitellius, he 
gradually overpowered the Roman troops which guarded the province, or 
induced them to join him. Not satisfied with this success, he urged the 
Gauls to follow his example, and prevailed on Sabinus and Classicus to pro- 
claim a Gallic empire. But the proclamation awoke no response among the 
weak and plastic Celts, who were satisfied with their position under the Ro- 
mans. Gaul Avas easily pacified, and Civilis, after three defeats, was forced 
to quit his newly-formed kingdom and retire across the Rhine. (2) War 
WITH THE Jeavs. Vcspasian was appointed to conduct this war by Nero, 
A.D. 66. His first campaign was in Galilee, a.d. 67. He took Jotapata, 
capturing the historian Josephus, made himself master of Tiberias and Tari- 
chea, and reduced all northern Palestine. In the course of the next year, 
A.D. 68, he advanced southward to Jericho and Ctesarea. Inactive during 
the earlier part of a.d. 60, on account of the civil contests, he left the prose- 
cution of the war to his son Titus, when he quitted Palestine for Egypt : and 
Titus, early in a.d. 70,. commenced the siege of the capital. Jerusalem was 
taken, after a desperate resistance, in the autumn of the same year ; its in- 
habitants were massacred or sold as slaves ; and the whole city Avas razed to 
the ground. (3) War in Britain, Agricola, made governor of Britain by 
Vespasian in a.d. 78, began his career by the complete reduction of the 
Ordovices, the chief tribe of North Wales. He then (a.d. 70) attacked the 
Brigantes and other inhabitants of the tract between the Wash and the Tyne, 
and subdued the island as far as the Tyne and Solway, establisliing a line of 
forts across the isthmus Avhich unites England Avith Scotland. (The remain- 
der of the British War belongs to the reigns of Titus and Domitian.) 
On the legislation of Vespasian, the student may consult the Avork of— 
Cramer, A.G., D. Vespasianus, sive de vita et legislatione T. Flavii Ves- 
pasiani commentarius. Jenaj, 1785. 

31. Vespasian Lad taken care before his decease to associ- 
ate his elder son, Titus, in the empire ; and thus the latter 
KeignofTi- was, at his father's death, acknowledged without 
tus, A.D. 79-81. any difficulty as sovereign. His character was 
mild but weak; he cared too much for popularity; and was 
so prodigal of the resources of the State, that, had his reign 
been prolonged, he must have had recourse to confiscations 
or exactions in order to replenish an empty treasury. For- 
tunate ■ in his early death, he left behind liini a character 
unstained by any worse vice than voluptuousness. Even 
the public calamities w^hich marked his reign— the great 
eruption of Vesuvius, which overwhelmed Pompeii and Her- 
culaneum, a terrible fire at Rome, and a desti'uctive pesti- 



-;)6. 



540 ROME. [book v. 

lence — detracted but little from the general estimation in 
which he was held, being regarded as judgments, not on the 
prince, but on the nation. Titus held the throne for the 
short term of two years and two months, dying Sept. 13, 
A.D. 81, when he was not quite forty. 

Titus continued Agricola in his British command, and the third and fourth 
campaigns of that general belong to his reign. In these campaigns Agricola 
reduced the Scotch lowlands, and advanced the Roman frontier from the line 
of the Tyne and Solway to that of the Friths of Forth and Clyde. 

32. Domitian, the younger brother of Titus, though not 

associated by him in the empire, had been pointed out by 

him as his successor; and the incipient right thus 

Eeign of Do- ^ ^ . . ' . .^ „ ^ . , 

tiau, A.D.S1 conferred met with no opposition irom either 
Senate or army. Of a morose and jealous tem- 
per, he had sorely tried the affection of both his father and 
brother ; but they had borne patiently with his faults, and 
done their best to lessen them. It might have been hoped 
that on attaining to a position in which he had no longer a 
rival, he would have become better satisfied, and more geni- 
al; but a rooted self-distrust seems to have rendered him 
morbidly suspicious of merit of any kind, while an inward 
nnhappiness made him intolerant of other men's pleasures 
and satisfactions. Had he succeeded in gathering real lau- 
rels on the banks of the Rhine and Danube, the gratification 
of his self-love would probably have improved his temper; 
but, as it was, his inability to gain any brilliant success in 
either quarter disappointed and still further soured him. 
His tyranny Morosc and sevcrc by nature, as time went on ho 
and murder. l3ecame crucl ; not content with strictly enforcing 
obsolete laws, he revived the system of accusations, condem- 
nations, and forfeitures, which had been discontinued since 
the days of Nero; having decimated the ranks of the nobles, 
and provoked the conspiracy of Saturninus, he became still 
more barbarous through fear ; and, ending by distrusting 
every one and seeking to strike terror into all, he drew upon 
himself, just as his sixteenth year had begun, the fate which 
he deserved. He was murdered by the freedmen of the 
palace, whom his latest executions threatened, on the 18th 
ofSeptember, A.D. 90. 

Wars of Domitian. (1) War in Britain. Agricola, retained by Do- 
mitian in his command for three years, proceeded in a.d. 83 to attack the 



PAR-^ I., PER. VI.] DOMITIAK 541 

Caledonians in the low country north and north-east of the Frith of Forth. 
Having defeated them in several engagements, and explored the character of 
the country, he again attacked them in a.d. 84, defeated their leader, Gal- 
gacus, in a great battle (probably near Forfar), and threatened to conquer 
the Avhole island. His fleet explored the coast as far as Cape Wrath, and 
ascertained the limits of Britain northward. Further successes were pre- 
vented by his sudden recall, towards the close of a. d. 8-1, by his jealous mas- 
ter, (2) War in Germany. In a.d. 84, Domitian crossed the Rhine, and 
made an expedition in person against the Chatti, Avhich was attended with 
no important success, but served to strike terror into the tribes in this quar- 
ter. In A.D. 87 he attacked the Marcomanni and their neighbors the Quadi 
and Sarmatag, but his arms met Avith reverses. (3) War with the Daci- 
ANS. This, which was far the most important of Domitian's wars, com- 
menced in his first year, a.d. 81, by an incursion of the Daci into Moesia, 
where they defeated a Koman legion, and ravaged the province to the foot 
of Mount Haemus. It was not till a.d. 8G that Domitian made an attempt 
to avenge this disaster. His troops crossed the Danube and invaded Dacia, 
but were completely defeated by the enemy. This defeat was followed in 
a.d. 87 by a Roman victory ; but three years afterwards (a.d. 90), a peace 
was made with this formidable enemy on terms disgraceful to the Romans. 
It was agreed to pay tlie Dacians an annual tribute on condition of their 
undertaking to abstain from incursions into Mcesia. This was the first time 
that imperial Rome had consented to purchase peace of an enemy. 

33. The cruelties of Domitian had thrown discredit on the 
hereditary principle, to which, though it had no legal force, 
Advantage his elevation to the principate was, in point of 
crisis by the fact, due. The Senate, which now for the first 
cSSl^ts'""' time since the death of Caligula found itself in a 
powers. position to claim and exercise authority, proceed- 

ed therefore to elect for sovereign an aged and childless 
man, one whose circumstances rendered it impossible that he 
should seek to impose upon them a dynast3^ It is remarka- 
ble that the praetorians, though they felt aggrieved by the 
murder of Domitian, and demanded the punishment of his 
assassins, made no opposition to the Senate's selection, but 
tacitly suffered the Fathers to assume a i^rerogative which, 
however it might be viewed as legally inherent in them, 
they had never previously exercised. Perhaps the lesson 
taught by Otho's fall was still in their minds, and they feared 
lest, if they attempted to create an emperor, they might again 
provoke the hostility of the legions. At any rate, the result 
was that the Senate at this juncture increased its power, and 
by its prompt action obtained a position and a consideration 
of which it had been deprived for more than a century. 



542 ROME. [Bo»K v. 

34. M. Cocceius Nerva, on whom the choice of the Senate 
fell, was a man of mild and lenient temperament, of fair abil- 
EeiguofNer- itics, and of the lax morals common in his day. 
va, A.D. %-98. Uq ^yc^^^ sixty-five or seventy years old at his ac- 
cession, and reigned only one year and fonr months. For 
tlie bloody regime of Domitian he substituted a government 
of extreme gentleness; for his extravagant expenditure, 
economy and retrenchment ; for his attempted enforcement 
of antique manners, an almost universal tolerance. He re- 
lieved poverty by distributions of land, and by a poor-law 
which threw on the State the maintenance of many desti- 
tute children. He continued the best of Domitian's laws, 
and made some excellent enactments of his own, as especial- 
ly one against delation. When the public tranquillity was 
■threatened by the violence of the prsetorians, who put to 
death without trial and without his consent the murderers 
of Domitian, he took the wise step of securing the future of 
the State by publicly appointing, with the sanction of the 
Adoption of Senate, a colleague and successor, selecting for 
Trajan. i\^q oflice the pcrson who of all living Romans 
appeared to be the fittest, and adopting him with the usual 
ceremonies. The example thus set passed into a principle 
of the government. Henceforth it became recognized as the 
duty of each successive emperor to select from out of the 
entire population of the empire the person most fit to bear 
rule, and make him liis adopted son and successor. 

The adoption practised by the princes of the Julian house was different 
from this, since they chose only from among their own relatives and close 
connections. The act of Galba in adopting Piso (see § 27) was similar in 
intention, but the choice was unhappy. 

35. M. Ulpius Trajanus, on whom the choice of Nerva had 
fallen, was a provincial Roman, a native of the colony of Ital- 

ica in Spain. His father had been consul and 
jan, A.i>. 98- procousul ; but otherwise his lamily was undis- 
tinguished. He himself had been bred up in 
the camp, and had served with distinction under his father. 
He had obtained the consulship in a.d. 91, under Domitian, 
and had been commander of the Lower Germany under both 
Domitian and Nerva. Readily accepted by the Senate, and 
thoroughly popular with the legions, he ascended the throne 
under favorable auspices, which the events of his reign did 



PAKT I., PER. VI.] NEKVA AND TRAJAN. 543 

not belie. The Romans regarded him as the best of all their 

princes : and, thousjh tried by a Christian, or even 
His character. . . 

a philosojihic standard, he was far from being a 

good man, since he was addicted to wine and to low sensual 
pleasures, yet, taking the circumstances of the times into ac- 
count, we can understand his surname of " Optimus." He 
was brave, laborious,magnanimous, simple and unassuming 
in his habits, affable in his manners, genial ; he knew how to 
combine strictness with leniency, liberality with economy, 
and devotion to business with sociability and cheerfulness. 
And if we may thus consider him, in a qualified sense, 
"good," we may certainly without any reserve pronounce 
him " great." Both as a general and as an administrator he 
stands in the front rank of Roman rulers, equalling Augus- 
tus in the one respect, and nearly equalling Julius in tlie 
other. Though he could not materially improve the impe- 
rial form of government, which took its color wholly from 
the character of the reigning prince, yet he gave to the 
government while he exercised it the best aspect of which it 
Avas capable. He sternly suj)pressed delation, al- 
lowed the Senate perfect freedom of speech, ab- 
stained from all interference in its appointments, and in so- 
cial converse treated its members as equals. Indefatigable 
in business, he managed almost alone the affairs of his vast 
empire, carrying on a voluminous correspondence with the 
governors of provinces, and directing them how to proceed 
in all cases, hearing carefully all the appeals made to him, 
and sometimes even judging causes in the first instance. 
His administration of the finances was extraordinarily good. 
Without increasing taxation, without having recourse to 
confiscations, he contrived to have always so full an excheq- 
uer, that neither his military expeditions nor his great works 
(which were numerous both in Rome and the provinces), nor 
his measures for the relief of the necessitous among his sub- 
jects, were ever cramped or stinted for want of means. He 
extended and systematized the irregular poor-law of Nerva ; 
made loans at a low rate of interest to the proprietors of en- 
cumbered estates ; repaired the ravages of earthquakes and 
tempests; founded colonies; constructed various military 
roads ; bridged the Rhine and Danube ; adorned w4th works 
of utility and ornament both provincial towns and the capi- 



544 ROME. [book v. 

tal. He spent little upon himself. His column and his tri- 
His "reat nmphal arch may be regarded as constructed for 
Avorks. }jis own glory ; but his chief works, his great Fo- 

rum at Rome, his mole at Centumcella3 (Civita Vecchia), his 
harbor at Ancona, his roads, his bridges, his aqueducts, weiie 
for the benefit. of his subjects, and justly increased the affec- 
tion wherewith they regarded him. If he had any fault as a 
ruler, it was an undue ambition to extend Terminus, and to 
be known to fjiture ages as a conqueror. There were no 
His conquests ^^ubt reasons of policy which led him to make 
no real gain hig Daciau and Oriental expeditions, but never- 

to the empire. , , , • t rry\ . • r- 

theless they were mistakc^S. The time for con- 
quest was gone by ; and the truest wisdom would have been 
to have rested content with the limits which had been fixed 
by Augustus — the Rhine, the Danube, and the Euphrates. 
Trajan's conquests had for the most part to be surrendered 
immediately after his decease; and the prestige of Rome 
was more injured by their abandonment than it had been 
advanced by his long series of victories. 

Wars of Trajan. (1) War with the Dacians, a.d. 101-106. The 
war was aggressive on the part of the Romans, and commenced with an inva- 
sion of Dacia in a.d. 101, which was completely snccessful. Zermizegethu- 
sa, the capital, was occupied. The next year a great battle was fought at 
Tapa;, in which Decebalus was worsted ; whereupon he sued for peace. 
Hard terms were granted him, a.d. 103. In a.d. 104 he rebelled, and Tra- 
jan again took the field and caiTied all before him. Decebalus and his no- 
bles slew themselves. Dacia was made into a province, colonies being plant- 
ed at Zermizegethusa, Apulum, Napoca, and Cerna, (2) War in the East. 
The generally unquiet state of the East, and particularly the machinations of 
the Jews, induced Trajan to strike a blow at Parthia. The conflicting claims 
of the two empires to direct the affairs of Armenia was the nominal ground 
of quarrel. The Wiir began by Trajan's invading Armenia, a.d. 115, and 
taking possession of the country, which he reduced at once to the condition 
of a province. He then rapidly overran and conquered Mesopotamia and 
Assyria, which he put upon the same footing. The next year, a.d. IIG, he 
marched southward, took Ctesiphon and Seleucia, and ravaged* the Parthian 
territory as for as Susa. But now revolts broke out in his rear. Seleucia re- 
belled and Avas retaken. Hatra (El Hadr) successfully resisted Trajan him- 
self. Retreat from an untenable position became necessary. Trajan there- 
fore relinquished his most southern conquests to a Parthian prince, Partha- 
maspates, who consented to hold his kingdom as a Roman fief, and retired to 
Antioch, still retaining, however, as the fruits of the war, the three new prov- 
inces of Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Assyria. 

A portion of Arabia, the tract about Petra, was also added to the empire 
under Trajan, by an expedition under the conduct of Cornelius Palma. 



PART I., PER. VI.] REIGN OF HADRIAN. 545 

36. Tmjan, on his return from the East, found his liealth 
failing. He was sixty-five years old, and had overtaxed his 
Death of Tra- Constitution by the fatigue and exposure which 
jau. Difficui- he had undersjone in his recent canipaiQ'ns. He 
spect to the had nominated no successor before quitting Rome, 

ncc bsiou. ^^^^ .^ ^^^g ^^^^ ^^ ^1^^ j^g^ importance to supply 

this omission. But regard for the constitutional riglits, 
which it had been his policy to recognize in the Senate, in- 
duced him to postpone the formal act as long as possible, 
and it is uncertain whether he did not delay till too late. 
The alleged adoption of Hadrian by his predecessor w^as 
perhaps a contrivance of the Empress, Plotina, after the 
death of her husband. It was, at any rate, secret and in- 
formal ; and the new throne w^as consequently unstable. 
But the judicious conduct of Hadrian in the crisis overcame 
all difiiculties; and his authority was acknowledged with- 
out hesitation both by the army and the Senate. 

Among special sources for the history of Trajan, the most important are 
(1) the Panegyricus of the yomiger Pliny; and (2) the correspondence 
between the same Pliny and Trajan himself, when the former was governor 
of Bithynia, -which forms the Tenth Book of Pliny's Letters. This last, a 
unique remnant of antiquity, gives us an insight Avhich is most Aaluable, both 
into the character of the particular emperor and into the general method of 
Roman administration. 

Of modern writers on the reign of Trajan it is only necessary to mention 
Francke, whose Geschichte Trajans tmd seiner Zeitgenossen (published in 
1837) has superseded all former works on the period. 

37. Hadrian, who succeeded Trajan in a.d. 117, had a 
reign of nearly twenty-one years (from August, a.d. 117, to 

.^ Jt^ly, A.D. 138). He was forty-tw^o years old at 

drian, A.D.iiT his acccssion, and had the advantao-e (as it was 

-138 ... 

now considered) of being childless. Distantly 
related to Trajan, he had served under him with distinction, 
and had been admitted to an intimacy both with him and 
with the Empress. In many features of his character he re- 
sembled Trajan. He had the same geniality, the same aiFa- 
ble manners, the same power of uniting liberal and even 

mag-nificent expenditure with thrift and economy, 
His character. . ^ ^^ . _ . , .^.- 

the same moderation and anxiety to maintain a 
show of free government. . Again, like Trajan, he was inde- 
fatigable in his attention to business, and ready to grapple 
with an infinite multiplicity of details ; he was a friend to 



546 ROME. [book v. 

literature, and a zealous patron of the fine arts ; tliougli lax 
in his morals, he avoided scandals, and never suffered his 
love of pleasure to interfere with his duties as prince. He 
differed from Trajan, partly, in a certain jealousy and irrita- 
bihty of temper, which towards the close of his life betray- 
ed him into some lamentable acts of cruelty towards those 
about his person ; but chiefly, in the absence of any desire 
for military glory, and a j)reference for the arts of peace 
above the triumphs and trophies of successful warfare. Ha- 
drian's reign was marked by two extraordinary novelties : 
first, the voluntary relinquishment of large portions of Ro- 
He surrenders ^n^i^ territory (Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Assyr- 
'imScou-'^^' ^^)^ which were evacuated immediately after his 
quests. accession ; and secondly, the continued visitation 

by the Emperor of the various provinces under his dominion, 
and his residence for prolonged periods at several provincial 
capitals. York (Eboracum), Athens, Antioch, Alexandria, 
were in turns honored by the presence of the Emperor and 
his court. Fifteen or sixteen years out of the twenty-one 
years of his reign were occupied by these provincial prog- 
resses, which he was the first to institute. Hadrian showed 
himself manifestly not the chief of a municipality, but the 
sovereign of an empire. He made no difference between the 
various races which peopled his dominions. With all he as- 
sociated in the most friendly way ; ascertained their wish- 
es ; made himself acquainted with their characters ; exerted 
himself to supply their wants. The great works which he 
loved to construct were distributed fairly over the different 
regions of the empire. If Rome could boast his mausoleum, 
and his grand Temple of Rome and Venus, to Tibur belong- 
ed his villa, to Athens his Olympeium, to Britain and the 
Rhenish provinces his great ramparts, to Tarraco his temple 
of Augustus, to Nismes (Nemausus) one of his basilicas, to 
Alexandria a number of his most costly buildings. Hadri- 
an's reign has been pronounced with reason " the best of the 
imperial series." To have combined for twenty years un- 
broken peace with the maintenance of a contented and effi- 
cient army ; liberal expenditure with a full exchequer, re- 
plenished by no oppressive or unworthy means ; a free- 
speaking Senate with a firm and strong monarchy, is no 
mean glory. Hadrian also deserves praise for the choice 



PART I., PER. VI.] REIGN OF ANTONINUS PIUS. 54 Y 



His choice of wliich he made of a successor. His first selection 
a successor, ^^..^g ii^(jee(^ fv^^. fi-Qm happy. L. Ceionius Yerus 
may not have deserved all the hard things which have been 
said of him ; but it seems clear that he was a fop and a vo- 
luptuary — one, therefore, from whom the laborious discharge 
of the onerous duties of an emperor could scarcely have been 
expected. On his death, in a.d. 138, Hadrian at once sup- 
plied his place by the formal adoption of T. Aurelius Antoni- 
nus, a man of eminent merit, qualified in all respects to bear 
rule. He would perhaps have done best, had he left to his 
successor the same power of free selection Avhich he had him- 
self exercised ; but the ties of afi*ection induced him to re- 
quire Antoninus to adopt as sons his own nephew, M. Annius 
Verus, together with L. Verus, the son of his first choice, L. 
Ceionius (or, after his adojjtion, L. ^lius) Verus. 

The only wars of any importance during tlie reign of Hadrian were one 
witii the Roxolani in his second year, a.d. 118, which he terminated by an 
agreement to pay them an annual subsidy ; and one with the revolted Jews, 
mider Barcochebas, which lasted from a.d. 131 to 135. This war ended with 
the complete defeat of the Jews, their final dispersion, and absolute banish- 
ment from Palestine. It was followed by the establishment of -^lia Capito- 
lina as a Roman colony, on the site of Jerusalem, 

Our chief sources for the history of Hadrian are his Life by Spartianus 
(contained in the Histori(p Augustce Scriptores in), and Xipiiilinus's Epitome 
of the Sixty-ninth Book of Dig Cassius. Much light is thrown on the pe- 
riod by his coins and inscriptions, which are numerous. 

Among special works on the history of this prince, Avritten by moderns, the 
following are worthy of notice : 

WooG, C. Ch., De eruditione Hadriani Imperatoris et lihris ah eo scriptis. 
Lipsice, 1769 ; 4to. 

Flemmer, J. M., De itinerihus et rebus gestis Hadriani sectmdum numorum 
et scriptorum testimonia. Havnia3, 183G ; 8vo. 

Gregorovius, F., Geschichte des Rdmischen Kaisars Hadrian. Konigs- 
berg, 1851 ; 8vo. 

38. T. Aurelius Antoninus, the adopted son and successor 
of Hadrian, ascended the throne in July, a.d. 138. He was 
, . fifty-one years old at this time, and reisrned twen- 
touinus Pins, ty-thrcG ycai's, dymg a.d. 161, when he had at- 
tained the age of seventy-four. It has been said 
that the people is fortunate which has no history ; and this 
was eminently the condition of the Romans under the first 
Antonine. Blameless alike in his public and his private life, 
he maintained the empire in a state of peace and general 



548 KOME. [book v. 

content, wliich rendered his reign peculiarly uneventful. A 
few troubles upon the frontiers, in Egypt, Dacia, Britain, and 
Mauretania employed the arms of his lieutenants, but gave 
rise to no war of any magnitude. Internally, Antoninus 
made no changes. He continued the liberal policy of his 
predecessors, Nerva, Trajan, and Hadrian, towards the Sen- 
ate ; discouraged, delation ; was generous in gifts and lar- 
gesses, yet never exhausted the resources of the treasury ; 
encouraged learning; erected numerous important build- 
ings ; Avatched over the whole of the empire with a father's 
care, and made the happiness of his subjects his main, if not 
even his sole, object. Indulgent by temperament and con- 
viction, he extended even to the Christians the leniency 
which was a principle of his government, and was the first 
emperor who actively protected them. In his domestic life 
Antoninus was less happy than his virtues deserved. His 
wife, Faustina, was noted for her irregularities ; his two boys 
died before his elevation to the throne ; and his daughter, 
Annia Faustina, whom he married to the elder of his adopt- 
ed sons, M. Aurelius, was far from spotless. He enjoyed, 
however, in the affection, the respect, and the growing prom- 
ise of this amiable and excellent prince, some compensation 
for his other domestic troubles. With just discernment, he 
drew a sharp line of distinction between the two sons as- 
signed him by Hadrian. Towards the elder, M. Annius (or, 
after his adoption, M. Aurelius) Verus, he showed the high- 
est favor, marrying him to his daughter, associating him in 
the government, and formally appointing him his sole suc- 
cessor. In the younger (L. ^Elius Verus) he reposed no con- 
fidence whatever; he advanced him to no public post; and 
gave him no prospect, however distant, of the succession. 

Tlie troubles, scarcely deserving to be dignified with the name of wars, 
which ruffled the tranquillity of this reign, were principally (I) A revolt of 
the Brigantes in Britain, a.d. 140, which was chastised by Lollius Urbicus, 
who also occupied the tract between the Solway and the Clyde, and erected 
the barrier drawn from the Clyde to the Forth, which was known as the 
*' Wall of Antonine." (2) A rebellion (probably of the Jews) in Egypt. (3) 
Troubles in Dacia, complicated perhaps by the simultaneous attacks of a new 
enemy, the Alani. (4) Disturbances in Mauretania, Avhere the nomads 
sought to recover lands won by the Romans from the desert. The dates of 
the Jewish, Dacian, and Mauretanian troubles can not be fixed. 

The chief ancient authority for the events of this reign is the Life of Anto- 



FAKT I., PER. VI.] KEIGN OF MARCUS AURELIUS. 549 

nintis Pius, by Jul. Capitolinus, contained in tlie Historic Augustce Scrip- 
tores already quoted (p. 547). This meagre biography is scantily eked out 
from the Epitome of Xipiiilinus, who had before him only a few fragments 
of Dio, from Eutropius, Aurelius Victor* and Fronto. The best edi- 
tion of Fronto is that of Aug. Maius. Mediolani, 1815 ; 2 vols. 8vo. 

Of modern works on the period, the most important is that of the Comte 
DE Champagny (already mentioned, supra, p. 517), Les Antonins, which 
treats, however, of the entire period from Vespasian to Commodus. 

39. M. Aurelius, who took the name of Antoninus after the 
death of his adoptive father, ascended the throne, a.d. 161, at 

Eeign of Mar- ^^^ ^^^ ^^ ^'^^'^^- ^® I'eigned nineteen years, from 
cus^meims, March, A.D. 161, to March, A.D. 180. Although the 
embodiment of the highest Roman virtue — brave, 
strict, self-denying, laborious, energetic, patient of injuries, 
affectionate, kind, and in mental power not much behind the 
greatest of previous emperors — he had, nevertheless, a sad 
and unhappy reign, through a concurrence of calamities, for 
only one of which had he himself to blame. His unworthy 
colleague, Lucius Verus, was by his own sole act associated 
with him in the empire ; and the anxiety and grief which 
this prince caused him must be regarded as the consequence 
of a foolish and undue affection. But his domestic troubles 
— the loose conduct of his wife Faustina, the deaths of his 
eldest son and of a daughter, the evil disposition of his sec- 
ond son, Commodus — arose from no fault of his own. Aure- 
lius is taxable with no unfaithfulness to his marriage-bed, 
Avith no neglect of the health or moral training of his off- 
spring ; still less can the great calamities of his reign, the 
terrible plague, and the aggressive attitude assumed by the 
barbarians of the East and North, be ascribed to any negli- 
gence or weakness in the reigning monarch. He met the 
pretensions of the Parthians to exercise sovereignty over 
Armenia with firmness and vigor; and though here he did 
not take the field in person, yet the success of his generals 
and lieutenants reflects credit upon him. "When the barba- 
rians of the North begali to show themselves formidable, he 
put himself at the head of the legions, and during the space 
of fourteen years — from a.d. 167 to his death in a.d. 180 — 
occupied himself almost unceasingly in efforts to check the 
invaders and secure the frontier against their incursions. 
Successful in many battles against all his enemies, he never- 
theless failed in the great object of the war,w^hich w^as effect- 



550 • HOME. [book v. 

ually to repel the Northern nations, and to strike such ter- 
ror into them as to make them desist from their attacks. 
From liis reign the bai'barians of the North became a per- 
petual danger to Kome — a danger which increased as time 
XX.. -, went on. But the causes of this chansje of atti- 

New attitude ° 

of the North- tude are to be sought — mamly, at any rate — not 
within, but beyond the limits of the Roman do- 
minion. A great movement of races had commenced in the 
lands beyond the Danube. "Slavonic and Scythic (or Tura- 
nian) hordes were pressing westward, and more and more 
cramping the Germans in their ancient seats. The Slaves 
themselves were being forced to yield to the advancing 
Scyths ; and the wave of invasion which broke upon the Ro- 
man frontier was impelled by a rising tide of migration far 
in its rear, which forced it on, and would not allow it to fall 
1 ack. At the same time, a decline Avas going on in the vig- 
or of the Roman national life ; the race was becoming ex- 
hausted ; the discipline of the legions tended to relax ; long 
periods of almost unbroken peace, like the reigns of Hadrian 
and Antoninus Pius, produced a military degeneracy ; and 
by the progress of natural decay the empire was becoming- 
less and less capable of resisting attack. Under these cir- 
cumstances, it is creditable to Aurelius that he succeeded in 
maintaining the boundaries of the empire in the north, while 
he advanced them in the east, where once more Mesopotamia 
was made a Roman province, and the line of demarkation be- 
tween Rome and Parthia became the Tigris instead of the 
Euphrates. 

Details of the Wars of Aurelius. (1) Parthian War, a.d. 162- 
166. On the accession of Aurelius, the Parthians break the peace by an in- 
vasion of Armenia, a.d. 161. Severianus marches against them, but is de- 
feated and slain. Verus, sent to assume the command (a.d, 162), proceeds 
no farther than Antioch ; but Avidius Cassius, prefect of Syria, and Statius 
Priscus take the offensive. The latter drives the Parthians from Armenia; 
the former invades Mesopotamia, captures Seleucia, Ctesiphon, and Babylon, 
burns the royal palace at Ctesiphon (a.d. 165), and forces the Parthians to 
sue for peace. Peace is granted, a.d. 166, Mesopotamia being ceded to 
Rome, and Armenia restored to its old condition of a semi-independent mon- 
archy. (2) War with the Quadi and Marcomanni, a.d. 167-174. The 
Quadi and Marcomanni ravage Pannonia, cross the Alps into Italy, and 
reach Aquileia, a.d. 167. Both emperore proceed against them — they re- 
treat acrof-s the Alps. In a.d. 168 the emperors cross the Alps, s^nd, hav- 
ing provided for the defense of the passes, return to Italy. Death of Verus. 



PART I., lEK. VI.] KEIGN OF COMMODUS. 55 1 

The weakness of the Roman efforts in these two years encouraged a general 
rising of the tribes along the Danube, almost all of whom now took arms, 
A.D. 1G9. Aurelius now took post on the Danube, and remained there, sum- 
mer and winter, for at least three years — probably a.d. 1G9-172. In a.d. 
17-i he gains a great victory over the Quadi, ascribed to miraculous rain and 
lightning. On hearing of the revolt of Cassius, a.d. 175, he makes a peace 
or truce. (8) War with the Sarmatians, Marcomanni, Quadi, etc., 
A.D. 178-180. The Marcomanni break the peace and gain successes. Au- 
relius and Commodus proceed against them, a.d. 178. Victoiy of Paternus, 
A.D. 179. Death of Aurelius at Vindobona (Vienna), a.d. 180. 

The rebellion of Avidius Cassius in Asia was put down without any con- 
flict, Cassius being slain by his own soldiers ; but it called Aurelius to the 
East, where he passed portions of two years, a.d. 175-6. 

The special ancient sources for the history of this reign are the Lives of 
M. Aurelius, L. Verus, and Avidius Cassius, in the Historice Augustce Scrip- 
tores, the two former composed by Jul. Capitolinus, the last by Vulca- 
tius Gallicanus. Light is thrown on the character of Aurelius himself, 
from his correspondence with Fronto (see p. 549), and his Meditations (Ta 
£if kavTov), of which the best edition is probably still that of Stanhope (Lon- 
don, 1697 ; 4to). The best edition of the Historic Atigustm Scriptores is 
that of Jordan and Eyssenhardt (Berolini, 1864 ; 2 vols. 8vo). 

Among modern works on the subject may be mentioned the following : 

Bach, N., De Marco Aurelio Antonino Imperatore philosophante ex ipsius 
Commentariis scriptio philologica. Lipsiee, 1826 ; 8vo. 

Westenberg, J. O., Divus Marcus, seu dissert ationes ad Constitufiones M. 
Aurelii Antonini Imperatoris. Lugd. Bat., 1736 ; 4to. 

Meiners, Ch., De M. Aurelii Antonini ingenio, moribus, et scrip tis ; in the 
Commentationes Societal. Gotting., vol. vi. 

40. The eighty-four consecutive years of good govern- 
ment which Rome had now enjoyed were due to the prac- 
Returntothe *^^^^ Substitution for the hereditary principle of 
principle of the powcr of nominating a successor. This pow- 



hereclitary , t , . t . , . . 

succession. er had been exercised in the most conscientious 

ReignofCom- t . • , • ^ £> • ^ t 

modus, A.I). and i^atriotic way by lour successive rulers, and 
iso-192. ^1^^ result had been most beneficial to the com- 

munity. But the four rulers had been all childless, or at 
any rate had had no male offspring; and thus it had not 
been necessary for any of them to balance a sense of public 
duty against the feeling 0/ parental affection. With M. Au- 
relius the case was different. Having a single dearly-loved 
son, in some respects promising, he allowed the tender par- 
tiality of the father to prevail over the cold prudence of the 
sovereign ; and, persuading himself that Commodus would 
prove a tolerable ruler, associated him in the government 
(a.d. 177) at the early age of fifteen. "Hence Commodus 



552 ROME. [book v. 

necessarily succeeded him, having begun to reign three 
years before his father's death. Few dispositions would 
have borne this premature removal of restraint and admis- 
sion to uncontrolled authority. Such a trial was peculiarly 
unfitted for the weak character of Commodus. Falling un- 
der the influence of favorites, this wretched prince degener- 
ated rapidly into a cruel, licentious, and avaricious tyrant. 
He began his sole reign (March, a.d. 180) by buying a peace 
of the Marcomanni and Quadi ; after which he returned to 
Rome, and took no further part in any military expeditions. 
For about three years he reigned decently well, suffering the 
administration to retain the character which Aurelius had 
given it. But in a.d. 183, after the discovery of a plot to 
murder him, in which many senators were implicated, he 
commenced the career of a tyrant. Delation thinned the 
ranks of the Senate, wdiile confiscation enriched the treasury. 
Justice was commonly bought and sold. The ministers, Pe- 
rennis, praetorian prefect, and after him Oleander, a freedman, 
were sufiered to enrich themselves by every nefarious art, 
and then successively sacrificed, a.d. 186 and 189. Passing 
his time in guilty pleasures and in the diversions of the am- 
phitheatre, wherein " the Roman Hercules " exhibited him- 
self as a marksman and a gladiator, Commodus cared not 
how the empire was governed, so long as he could amuse 
himself as he ]3leased, and remove by his warrants all whom 
lie suspected or feared. At length, some of those whom ho 
had proscribed and was about to sacrifice — Marcia, one of 
his concubines, Eclectus, his chamberlain, and Lsetus, prefect 
of the praetorians — learning his intention, anticipated their 
fate by strangling him in his bedroom. Commodus was 
murdered, a.d. 192, after he had reigned twelve years and 
nine months. 

The wars of this reign were unimportant. Clodius Albinus and Pescen- 
nius Niger defended Daeia against the attacks of the Sarmatians and Scyths. 
In Britain, Marcellus Ulpius re-established the Roman authority orer the 
tract between the Solway and the Clyde, which had been again occupied by 
the barbarians, a.d. 184. 

The authorities for the reign of Commodus are (besides the fragments of 
Dig), his Life, by -^nus Lampridius, in the Historicc Augustce Scriptores, 
and the History of Herodian, M'hich commences with his accession. (Best 
edition, that of Bekker; Berlin, 1826; 8vo.) The regular narrative of 
Gibbon also here commences. 



PART I., PEK. VI.] REIGN OF COMMODUS. 553 

41. The disorganization of the emj^ire, which commenced 
as early as Galba, arrested in its natural progress by such 
Increasing wisc and firm princes as Vespasian, Trajan, Ha- 
tioi?oni!e'^" <^^i*ian, and the t^yo great Antonines,,made rapid 
Empire. stridcs Under Commodus, who was too weak and 

too conscious of his demerits to venture on repressing dis- 
orders, or punishing those engaged in them. The numerous 
desertions, w hich enabled Maternus to form a band that rav- 
aged Spain and Gaul, and gave him hopes of seizing the em- 
pire, the deputation of 1500 legionaries from Britain, which 
demanded and obtained the downfall of Perennis, and the 
open conflict' between the praetorians and the city cohorts 
which preceded the death of Cleander, are indications of 
military insubordination and of the dissolution of the bonds 
of discipline, such as no former reign discloses to us. It is 
evident that the army, in w^hich lay the last hope of Roman 
unity and greatness, was itself becoming disorganized. No 
common spirit animated its diflerent parts. The city guards, 
the praetorians, and the legionaries, had diflTerent interests. 
The legionaries themselves had their own quarrels and jeal- 
ousies. The soldiers Avere tired of the military life, and, 
mingling with the provincials, engaged in trade or agricul- 
ture, or else turned themselves into banditti and preyed 
nj^on the rest of the community. Meanwhile, population 
was declining, and production consequently diminishing, 
while luxury and extravagance continued to prevail among 
the upper classes, and to exhaust the resources of the State. 
Above all, the general morality was continually becoming 
worse and worse. Despite a few bright examples in high 
places, the tone of society grew everywhere more and more 
corrupt. Purity of life, except among the despised Chris- 
tians, was almost unknown. Patriotism had ceased to exist, 
and was not yet replaced by loyalty. Decline and decrep- 
itude showed themselves in almos-t every portion of the 
body politic, and a general despondency, the result of a con- 
sciousness of debility, pervaded all classes. Nevertheless, 
under all this apparent weakness Avas an extraordinary re- 
serve of strength. The empire, Avliich nnder Commodus 
seemed to be tottering to its fall, still stood, and resisted the 
most terrible attacks from without, for the further sj)ace of 
two full centuries. 

24 



554 ROME. 'lBook v. 

Some excellent remarks on the general condition of the empire at this 
period will be found in the concluding chapter of Mr. Merivales Romans 
under the Empire. 

SECOND SECTION. 
From the Death of Commodus to the Accession of Diocletian, a.d. 193-284, 

Sources, (1) Authors: Dio Cassius, as reported in the work of Xipiii- 
LiNUS (Lib. Ixiii.-lxxx), is still our most trustworthy guide for the general 
history ; but this fragmentary production must be supplemented from Hero- 
DiAN (see p. 552), and from the Historice Augustce Scrijjtores, as well as from 
the epitomists, Eutropius, Aurelius Victor, and Sextus Rufds„ The 
works of these last-named Avriters cover the entire space, whereas Die's his- 
tory stops short at his consulate, a.d. 229, and Herodian's terminate? at the 
accession of the third Gordian, a.d. 238. Zosimus (Historice novce libri 
sex ; ed. Bekker, in the Corpus Hist. Byz. Bonnro, 1837) ; and Zonaras 
(Annales; ed. Finder, in the same series. Bonnie, 1841), are also occasion- 
ally serviceable. From a.d. 226 the histoiy of Agatiiias (ed. Niebuhr. 
Bonn, 1828) is of importance. To these various authors may be added the 
Fragments of Dexippus, whereof there are several collections. The best, 
probably, is that in the Fragmenta Historicorum Grcccorum of C. Muller 
(Faris, 1841-9 ; vol. iii., pp. 666-687). (2) Coins and medals, valuable for 
the preceding period, are still more useful for this. Works illustrating the 
History of the Empire from them have been written by 

Foy-Vaillant, J. (Nmnismata Augustorum et Ccesarum. Rome, 1713 ; 
3 vols, folio), and 

Cooke, W. {The Medallic History of Imperial Rome. London, 1781; 
2 vols.). 

For representations of the coins, see vol. vii. of the great work of Eckiiel 
(Doctrina Nummorum Veteriim. Vindobona;, 1792 ; 8 vols. 4to ; and com- 
pare MiONNET, Description des Medailles. Faris, 1806-37; 18 vols. 12mo). 

The great modern work on the period is the celebrated History of the De- 
cline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon, of Avhich the best 
edition is that of Dr. W. Smith. London, 1851 ; 8 vols. 8vo. This work, 
though less accurate and trustworthy than it was formerly thought to be, is 
still the best on the subject whereof it treats. The sensible reader will make 
allowance for the unfairness and bias natural in a professed skeptic. 

Among other works which, like that of Gibbon, while they embrace the 
period^go considerably beyond it, may be mentioned : 

Montesquieu, Considerations sur les causes de la grandeur des Romains 
et de leur decadence, in his (Euvres completes. Faris, 1718 ; 5 vols. 8vo. 
And 

SiSMONDi, Histoire de la chute de V Empire Romain et du declin de la civiL 
isation. Faris, 1835; 2 vols. ^8 vo. 

1. The special characteristic of the period on which we 
now enter is military tyranny — the usurpation of supreme 
power by the soldiers, who had at last discovered their 



■AKT I., PER. vi.J • KEIGN OF PEKTINAX. 



too 



Gejierai char- Strength, find nominated or removed emperors at 
'Sertodfrom ^lieir pleasure. Constant disquiet and disturb- 
Pttitinax to ance was the result of this unhappy discovery — ■ 

Uiocltjtiaii 11./ J 

twenty-five emperors wore the purple in tlie space 
of ninety-two years, their reigns thus averaghig less than 
four years apiece. Two reigns only during the entire pe- 
riod — those of the two Severi — exceeded ten years. De- 
ducting these, the average for a reign is reduced to two 
years. It was of course impossible under these circum- 
stances that any renovation of the empire or restoration of 
pristine vigor should be effected. The internal administra- 
tion was indeed scarcely a subject of attention. Each em- 
peror was fully occupied by the necessity of maintaining his 
own power against rival pretenders, generally Avith as good 
claims as his own, and resisting the attacks of the barbari- 
ans, who were continually increasing in strength and audac- 
ity. Tlie few good princes who held the throne exerted 
themselves mainly to strengthen and invigorate the army 
by the re-establishment and strict enforcement of discipline. 
Reform in this quarter was sadly needed ; but to accomplish 
it was most difficult. A strict emperop usually fell a victim 
to his reforming zeal, which rapidly alienated the affections 
of the soldiers. 

2. The assassins of Commodus, having effected their pur- 
pose, acted with decision and promptness. La?tus and Eclec- 
ReiguofPer- tus proceeded to the house of Pertinax, prefect 
to°£rch 2s!' of the city, revealed their deed, and offered him 
A.D.193. i^i^g crown. With a reluctance which may well 

have been unfeigned, this aged senator, a man of experience 
in business, and of unblemished character, one of the few re- 
maining friends of M. Aurelius, signified his consent. In- 
fluenced by Laetus, the praetorians consented somewhat sul- 
lenly to accept him ; the Senate, surprised and overjoyed, 
hailed the new reign with acclamations. But the difficulties 
of Pertinax began when his authority was acknowledged. 
An empty treasury required economy and retrenchment, 
while a greedy soldiery and a demoralized people clamored 
for shows and for a donative. The donative, which had been 
promised, was paid; but this necessitated a still stricter cur- 
tailment of other expenses. The courtiers and the citizens 
grumbled at a frugality to which they were unaccustomed ; 



556 ROME. ■ [book v. 

the soldiers dreaded lest a virtuous prince should enforce on 
them the restraints of discipline ; the " king-maker," Lcetus, 
was disappointed that the ruler whom he had set up would 
not consent to be a mere puppet. Within three months of 
his acceptance of power, Pertinax found himself almost with- 
out a friend; and when the prretorians, instigated by Lretus, 
broke out in open mutiny, he unresistingly succumbed, and 
was dispatched by their swords. 

The only special source for the history of Pertinax is his Life by Jul, 
Capitolinus, in the Hist. August. Scriptores, 

3. The praetorians, who had murdered Pertinax, are said 
to have set up the office of emperor to public auction^ and 

,^.^ to have sold it to M. Didius Julianus, a rich sen- 

Eeigu of Did- ,. -r^ -, . ,1 

ius juiiauus, ator, once srovernor oi Dalmatia, whose elevation 

March 2S to ^' . ^ - , ^, .... ' ^ 

jime2,A.n. cost him more than three millions oi our money, 
^^^' Julianus was acknowledged by the Senate, and 

reigned at Rome for rather more than tAVO months ; but his 
authority was never established over the provinces. In 
three different quarters — in Britain, in Pannonia, and in Syr- 
ia — the legions, on learning the death of Pertinax and the 
scandalous circumstances of Julianus's appointment,invested 
their leaders, Albinus, Severus, and Niger, with the purple, 
and declared against the choice of the prsetorians. Of the 
three pretenders, Severus was at once the most energetic 
and the nearest Pome. Taking advantage of his position, 
he rapidly led his army across the Alps, advanced through 
Italy upon the capital, seduced the prietorians by his emis- 
saries, and was accepted by the Senate as emperor. The 
luckless Julianus was deposed, condemned to death, and 
executed. 

The Life of Didius Julianus, by -^lius Spartianus, in the Hist. Attgust. 
Scriptores, is the chief source for his history. 

4. The first act of Severus on obtaining the empire was to 
disarm and disband the existing praetorians, who were for- 
ReignofSep- bidden to reside thenceforth within a hundred 
tusjTd^ wt- i^iles of the capital. He then addressed himself 
211- to the contest with his rivals. First temporizing 
with AlbinuSj the commander in Britain, whom he promised 
to make his successor, he led his whole force against the 
Eastern emperor, Pescennius Niger, defeated his troops in 
two great battles, at Cyzicus and Issus. captured him, and 



PART I., I'Ku. VI.] REIGN OF tSEi'TlMlUS SEVERUS. 557 

put him to death. He then declared openly against Albinus, 
who advanced into Gaul and tried the fortune of war in an 
engagement near Lyons, w^here he too suffered defeat and 
was slain. Severus was now master of the whole empire, 
and might safely have shown mercy to the partisans of his 
rivals, against Avhom he had no just grounds of complaint. 
But he was of a stern and cruel temper. Forty-one sen- 
ators and great numbers of the rich provincials w^ere exe- 
cuted for the crime of opposing him ; and his government 
w^as established on a more tyrannical footing than any for- 
mer emperor had ventured on. The Senate was deprived 
Advauceofthe of even the show of power, and openly oppressed 
Swarci^cies- ^"4 insulted. The empire became a complete 
potism. military despotism. In lieu of the old praetori- 

ans, a body of 40,000 troops, selected from the legionaries, 
formed the garrison of Rome, and acted as the Emperor's 
body-guard. Their chief, the praetorian prefect {Prwfectiis 
prmtorio)^ became the second person in the kingdom, and a 
dangerous rival to the sovereign. Not only the command 
of the guards, but legislative and judicial power, and espe- 
cially the control of the finances, were intrusted to him. 
Severus attempted, but without much effect, to improve the 
general discipline of the legionaries ; he also showed liim- 
self an active and good commander. His expedition against 
the Parthians (a.d. 197-8) w^as, on the w^hole, remarkably 
prosperous, the Parthian capital, Ctesiphon, falling into his 
hands, and Adiabene being made a dependency. In Britain 
his arms had no such decisive success; but still he chastised 
the Caledonians, a.d. 208-9, and extended the limits of the 
empire in this quarter. His later years were saddened by 
the unconcealed enmity of his two sons, who were scarcely 
restrained, by their common dependence upon their father, 
from an open and deadly quarrel. Determined that neither 
should be left at the mercy of the other, he associated both 
in the empire, and recommended both to the army as his 
successors. He died at York, a.d. 211, at the age of sixty- 
five, having reigned eighteen years. 

The "Augustan History" contains, besides the Life of Severus by Spar- 
TiANUS, Lives of Pescennius Niger and Clodius Albinus, the former by Spar- 
TiANUs, the latter by Jul. Capitolinus. 

5. The two sons of Severus, Caracallus (wrongl}^ called 



558 HOME. [book v. 

Caracalla) and Geta, reigned conjointly for the space of a 
sinf^le year, mutually hatinp- and suspectincj one 

EeiguofCara- , at t r» i • V- r> • 

callus, A.D. another. At the end oi that time, alter a fruit- 

'^l''-'^17 

less attempt had been made to settle their quar- 
rel by a division of the empire, Caracallns, under pretense of 
a reconciliation, met his brother Geta in the apartments of 
the Empress-mother, Julia Domna, and there had him mur- 
dered in her arms (Feb. a.d. 212). After this he reigned for 
five years alone, showing himself a most execrable tyrant. 
Twenty thousand persons were put to death under the vague 
title of " friends of Geta ;" among them a daughter of M. 
Aurelius, a son of Pertinax, a nephew of Commodus, and the 
great jurist Papinian. Caracallus then, made restless by his 
guilty conscience, quitted Rome never to return, and com- 
menced a series of aimless wanderings through the provinces. 
He visited Gaul, Rh^tia, Dacia, Thrace, Asia Minor, Syria, 
Egypt, and Mesopotamia, everywhere marking his track 
with blood, and grievously oj^pressing the provincials. 
Knowing himself to be generally hated, he endeavored to 
secure the affections of the soldiers by combining excessive 
rewards for service with very remiss discipline, thus doubly 
injuring the empire. The vigor of the army melted away 
under his lax rule ; and the resources of the State Avere ex- 
hausted by his ruinous profaseness, which led him to devise 
new and ingenious modes of increasing taxation. It may 
have been also his desire to gratify his army Avliich induced 
him to plunge into his great war. In the West he liad en- 
gaged in no hostilities of importance, having merely Avhen 
in Gaul made an insignificant expedition against the Ale- 
manni, a.d. 214; but after he had transferred his residence 
to the East, he determined on an attempt to conquei* Parthia. 
Fixing his head-quarters at Edessa in Mesopotamia, he pro- 
ceeded to tread in his father's footsteps, crossed the Tigris, 
took Arbela, and drove the Parthians to seek refuge in the 
mountains, a.d. 216. Another campaign would have follow- 
ed; but, before it could begin, Caracallus was murdered by 
the praetorian prefect Macrinus, who knew Ins own life to be 
in danger. 

In order to extend the incidence of the " succession-tax " (vicesima Jiceredi- 
tatium), Caracallus suddenly conferred the riglits of citizenship on the whole 
Roman world. At the same time, he increased the tax from five per cent, 
to ten. 



PART 1., FKK. VI.] CAliACALLUiS AND MACKINUS. 55() 

The Lives of Caracallus and Geta, by iELius Spartiancs, contained in the 
Hist. August, Scriptores, form tlie chief special source for the history of these 
princes. 

6. Macriinis, proclaimed emperor after some hesitation by 
the soldiers, and acknowledged by the Senate, began his 
Rv fM I'eign by attempts to undo the evil policy of Car- 
crmus, A.D.' acallus, the ruinous effects of wliich were mani- 
fest. He withdrew at once from the Parthian 
war, which threatened to be tedious and expensive, consent- 
ing to purchase peace of the enemy. Not venturing to in- 
terfere with the rewards of the existing soldiery, he enlisted 
recruits upon lower terms. He diminished the burdens of 
the citizens by restoring the " succession-tax" to its old rate 
of live per cent. These proceedings were no doubt salutary, 
and popular with the mass of his subjects; but they were 
disagreeable to the army, and the army was now the real 
depository of supreme power. Hence Macrinus, like Perti- 
nax, soon fell a victim to his reforming zeal. The disaffec- 
tion of the soldiers was artfully fomented by Msesa, sister of 
Julia Domna, the late empress, who induced them to raise 
to the throne her grandson Avitus, or Bassianus, then high- 
priest of Elagabalus, in the great temple at Emesa (Hems), 
whom she declared to be a son of Caracallus. Macrinus did 
not yield Avithout a struggle ; but, quitting the field while 
the battle w^as still doubtful, he ruined his own cause by his 
cowardice. Pursued by the soldiers of his rival, he was cap- 
tured at Chalcedon, brought back to Antioch, and put to 
death. His son, Diadumenus, on whom he had conferred 
the title of Caesar, shared his fate. 

Two Lives in the Hist. August. Scriptores bear upon this reign — that of 
Macrinus by Capitolinus, and that of Diadumenus by Lampridius. 

T. Avitus, or Bassianus, on his accession to the throne 
took the name of M. Aurelius Antoninus, and assumed as 
Eei<?nofthe an undoubted fact his descent from Severus and 
"Stu^S; Caracallus. The name of "Elagabalus," by 
218-222. which he is generally known, w^as perhaps also 

used by himself occasionally, though it is not found upon his 
coins. His reign, which lasted four years only, is, though 
jiot the most bloody, yet beyond a doubt the most disgrace- 
ful and disgusting in the Roman annals. Elagabalus was 
the most effeminate and dissolute of mortals. He openly 



500 KOxAIE [book v. 

paraded his addiction to the lowest form of sensual vice. 
The contemptible companions of his guilty pleasures were 
advanced by him to the most important offices of the State. 
Syrian orgies replaced the grave and decent ceremonies of 
the Roman religion. A vestal virgin, torn from her sacred 
seclusion, was forced to be one of his wives. It is astonish- 
ing that the liomans, degenerate as they were, could endure 
for nearly four years the rule of a foreign boy, who possess- 
ed no talent of any kind, and whose whole life was passed in 
feasting, rioting, and the most infamous species of debauch- 
ery. Yet we do not find that his gross vices provoked any 
popular outburst. It was not till he threatened the life of 
his cousin, Alexander Severus, whom he had been prevailed 
upon to make " CjBsar," that opposition to liis rule appear- 
ed, and then it came from the praetorians. These "king- 
makers " had, it seems, conceived a certain disgust of the ef- 
feminate monarch, who painted his face and wore the attire 
of a woman ; and they had become attached to the virtuous 
Alexander. When, therefore, they found that of the two 
one must be sacrificed, they mutinied, slew Elagabalus, and 
placed his cousin upon the throne. 

Consult JEih. Lampridii, Vit. Antonin. Heliogabali, in the Hist. August. 
Scrip tores. 

8. In Alexander Severus, Avho succeeded his cousin, ad. 
222, we come upon an emperor of a different ^type. Careful- 
jReign of Ai- ly educated by his mother, Mammsea, the young- 
ms^A.^'.222-' 61* daughter of M^sa, he presents the remarkable 
^^- spectacle of a prince of pure and blameless mor- 

als cast upon a corrupt age, striving, so far as his powers 
went, to reform the degenerate State, and falling at length 
a victim to his praiseworthy but somewhat feeble efforts. 
It is perhaps doubtful whether at this time any degree of 
ability could have checked effectually the downward prog- 
ress of the empire, and arrested the decay that was leading 
on to absolute ruin. But Alexander, at any rate, did not 
possess such ability — like his cousin, he was a Syrian, and 
the taint of weakness was in his blood. However -u/ell-in- 
tentioned we may consider him to have been, there can be 
no doubt that he was deficient in vigor of mind, in self-as- 
sertion, and in the powers generally which make the firm 
and good sovereign. He allowed his mother to rule him 



PART I., i'i:ii. VI.] Kli-IGN 01^ ALEX. JSEVEKUS. 561 

throughout his whole reign. He shrank from grappling 
with the mutinous spirit of the army, and from those stern 
and bold measures which could alone have quelled insubor- 
dination. Hence his reign, though its tendency was towards 
good, failed permanently to benefit the empire, and can only 
be regarded as a lull in the storm, a deceitful calm, ushering 
in a more furious burst of the tempest. It was in vain that 
Alexander by his simple life set a pattern of frugality ; that, 
by re-establishing the Council of State, he sought to impose 
limits on his own power ; that by deference to the Senate 
he endeavored to raise it in public esteem, and to infuse 
into it a feeling of self-respect ; that by his intimacy with 
learned and literary men, he aimed at elevating the gown 
above the sword. He had not the strength of character to 
leave his mark upon the world. His attempts at reform 
failed or died with him. Military license asserted itself the 
more determinedly for his efforts to repress it, forcing Dio 
into retirement, and taking the life of Ulpian. Constant 
mutinies disgraced his reign, and at length, in the German 
war, the soldiers, desjjising his military incapacity, drew 
their swords against the Emperor himself, and murdered 
him, together with his mother. 

Wars of this Reign. (1) Persian War. The great revolution, a.b. 
226, by which the Parthian kingdom was brought to an end, and the New 
Persian Monarchy estabUshed in its room (see p. 624), led rapidly to hostili- 
ties between Rome and her eastern neighbor. Artaxerxes demanded the 
restoration to Persia of all her ancient provinces. Alexander Severus met 
the demand with an invasion, a.d. 231. His troops advanced in three lines, 
along the Tigris, the Euphrates, and the intermediate region, but Avei-e met 
and checked by the Persians. The Avar lasted two years. Alexander pre- 
tended to have gained a great victory, but appears to have barely held his 
own. Peace seems to have been made, but on what terms is uncertain, a.d. 
233. (2) German War. From the Tigris Alexander passed to the Rhine, 
A.D. 234, where the German tribes had taken the aggressive, and were plun- 
dering Gaul. He stationed himself at Mogontiacum (Mainz), and was killed 
there early in a.d. 235. 

The Life of Alex. Severus, in the Hist. August. Scriptores, by Lampridi- 
us, is one of the worst of the series, being almost pure panegyric. Herodi- 
AN is the best authority for his reign. A good estimate of his character will 
be found in the work of Hetne, De Alexandra Severo Judicium ; in vol. vi. 
of his Opuscula Academica. 

9. The mutinous soldiers who murdered Severus had act- 
ed at the instigation of an officer named Maximin, and this 

24* 



502 HOME. [book v. 

man they at once proclaimed emperor. He was 
imin, a.d. 235- by birth a Thracian peasant, and, though he must 
"'^^' have shown considerable ability to have obtain- 

ed the command of a legion, yet he still remained rude and 
coarse, fierce and brutal, more than half a savage. The cru- 
elties of Maximin, directed against all the noble and wealthy, 
and still more his constant extortions, soon made him gen- 
Rebeiiioii of crally detested ; and the tyranny of one of his 
dh\usTaiKi°^" creatures in "Africa" produced a revolt against 
their death. ]^[^^ [^ \^[^ fourth year— A. D. 238. The people of 
the province rose up, and made Gordian, their proconsul, 
together with his son, emperors. With a boldness that 
nothing but utter despair could have prompted, the Senate 
ratified their choice. Hearing this, Maximin, wiio was in 
winter-quarters at Sirmium on the Danubian frontier, imme- 
diately commenced his march towards Italy, hoping to crush 
his enemies by his promptness. His original rivals, the first 
and second Gordian, gave him no trouble, being put down 
by Capellianus, governor of Mauretania, little more than a 
month after their rebellion. But the Senate, with unwonted 
■R n • (\ ^"^^ 'ST? supi^lied their place by two of their own 
PupienusEm- body, Pupicuus and Balbinus, and undertook the 
pel 01 s. defense of Italy against Maximin. They garri- 

soned the towns, laid waste the country, and prepared to 
weary out the army which they could not venture to meet. 
The plan succeeded. Maximin, stopped by the resistance of 
Aquileia, and growing daily more savage on account of his 
want of success, became hateful to his own soldiers, who 
rose up against him and slew him, with his son, in his tent. 
Maximin was killed, probably, in the early part of May, a.d. 
238. 

But little is known of the wars of tliis reign, which seem, however, to have 
been important. Maximin, after the death of Severus, remained for nearly 
two years (a.d, 235-G) on the Rhenish frontier, employed in chastising the 
Germans. He then removed his head-quarters to Sirmium on the Save, and 
engaged in a war Avith the Sarmatians on the borders of Dacia, a.d. 287. 
From this war he was called off by the news of the Senate's defection. 

The "Augustan History" contains Lives of Maximin, of the Gordians, 
and of Pupienus and Balbinus, by Jul. Capitolinus. 

• 10. The triumph of the Senate, which seemed assured by 
the murder of Maximin, w\as regarded by the soldiers as 
fatal to their pretensions; and they soon came to a reso- 



PAUT I., PEK. VI.] MAXIMIN TO rillLlP. 553 

Murder of Bai ^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^ Senatoriaii emperors should not 
binus and Pu- remain at the head of aflfairs. Already, before 
the death of Maximin, they had asserted their 
right to have a voice in the nomination of the supreme au- 
thority, and had forced Balbinus and Pupienus to accept at 
their bidding a third Gordian, grandson and nephew of the 
former princes of the name, as Caesar. On the downfall of 
IVIaximin, and the full establishment of Pupienus and Balbi- 
nus as emperors, they thought it necessary for their inter- 
ests to advance a step farther. The Senate's nominees were 
not to be tolerated on any terms ; and within six weeks of 
their triumph over Maximin the praetorians murdered them, 
and made the third Gordian sole emj^eror. 

11. This unfortunate youth, who at the age *of thirteen 
was elevated to the position of supreme ruler over the entire 
Reicnofthe I^^^^^^^ world, Continued to occupy the throne 
thirtiGordiau, for the space of six years, A.D. 238 to 244, but can 

not be said to have exercised any real authority 
over the empire. At first, he was the mere tool of the eu- 
nuchs of the palace ; after which he fell under the influence 
of Timesicles, or Timesitheus, whose daughter he married, 
and who held the oflice of praetorian prefect. Timesitheus 
was an able minister; and the reign of Gordian was not 
unprosperous. He maintained the Roman frontier intact 
against the attacks of tlie Persians, a.d. 242,*and suppressed 
an insurrection in Africa, a.d. 240. On his return from the 
Persian war he was murdered near Circesium by Philip "the 
Arabian," who had succeeded Timesitheus in the command 
of the guard. 

Capitolinds's Life is the chief authority for this reign (see the Ili&t. Au- 
gust. Scrip tores). ZosiMUS (book i.) is also semceable. 

12. M. Julius Philippus, of Bostra in Arabia (probably a 
Roman colonist), who was made emperor by the soldiers af- 
ter they had killed the younj^ Gordian, had a 

Reign of Phil- . ^^ ip n^^^o^if^XT 

ip, A.D.24i- reign 01 live years only, irom A.D. 244 to 249. He 
^^^' concluded a peace with the P^-sians on tolerable 

terms, a.d. 244, celebrated the senelar games in commemora- 
tion of the thousandth year from the founding of the city, 
A.D. 248, and defeated the Carpi on the middle Danube, a.d. 
245. The notices which Ave possess of his reign are brief 
and confused, but sufficiently indicate the growing disorgan- 



564 ROME. [book v. 

ization of the Empire. Discontented with their governor, 
Priscus, Philip's brother, the Syrians revolted, and set up a 
rival emperor, named Jotapianus. About the same time, 
the troops in Moesia and Pannonia, from hatred of their of- 
ficers, mutinied, and invested with the j^urple a certain Ma- 
rinus. Tliese two mock emperors lost their lives shortly; 
but the Moesian and Pannonian legions continuing disaffect- 
ed, Philip sent a senator named Decius to bring them under. 
The rebels, however, placed Decius at their head, marched 
on Italy, and defeated and slew Philip at Verona, Septem- 
ber, A.D. 249. 

The statement of the ecclesiastical historians, that Philip was a Christian, 
is not altogether unworthy of belief. (See Niebuhr, Lectures of Roman 
jfiTzs^ory, vol. "iii.. Lecture 126.) Origen certainly addressed a letter to 
him. 

13. Decius, made emperor against his will by the Mcesian 
and Pannonian legions, was gladly accepted by the Senate, 

which was pleased to see the throne acrain occu- 

KeignofDe- • ^ -, r» • tt- ? 

cins, A.i>. 249- pied by one of its own number. His short reign 
of two years only is chiefly remarkable for the 
first appearance of a new and formidable enemy — the Goths 
— who invaded the empire in vast force, a.d. 250, traversed 
Dacia, crossed the Danube, spread devastation over Moesia, 
and even passed the Balkan and burst into Thrace. Decius, 
unsuccessful in'A.D. 250, endeavored in the following year to 
retrieve his ill-fortune, by destroying the Gothic host on its 
retreat. He was defeated, however, in a great battle near 
Forum Trebonii, in Moesia, and, together with his eldest son, 
whom he had associated in the empire, lost his life. 

14. Under these unhappy circumstances, the Senate was 
allowed to regulate the succession to the empire; which 
Reit^uofGai- ^^^ determined in favor of Gallus, one of the 
Ills, A.D. 251- generals of Decius, and of Decias's young son, 

"^ Hostilianus. Volusianus, the son of Gallus, was 
also associated in the imperial dignity. The real authority 
rested, however, ^ith Gallus, whose age and experience 
placed him far above his colleagues. He commenced his 
reign by purchasing a peace from the Goths, to whom he 
consented to pay an annual tribute, on condition of their 
respecting the Roman frontier, a.d. 252. He then returned 
to Rome, where he rapidly became unpopular, partly because 



PART I., PEK. vi.J DECIUS TO VALERIAN. 565 

of the disgraceful peace which he had made, partly on ac- 
comit of his inertness amid the fresh calamities which afflict- 
ed the imhappy State. Pestilence raged in Rome, and over, 
most of the empire; while fresh hordes of barbarians, incited 
by the success of the Goths, poured across the Danube, 
^milianu'fe, governor of Pannonia and Mcesia, having met 
and defeated these marauders, was proclaimed emperor by 
his army, and, marching npon Rome, easily established his 
authority. Gallus and his son (Hostilian had died of the 
plague) led out an army against him, but were slain by their 
own soldiers at Interamna on the Nar, near Spoletium. 
JEmilian was then acknowledged by the Senate. 

15. The destruction of Gallus and Yolusianus was soon 
avenged. Licinius Valerianus, a Roman of nnblemished 

character, whom Decius had wished to invest 
Mmniau,A.-D. with the office of censor, and whom Gallus had 
^^* sent to bring to his aid the legions of Gaul and 

Germany, arrived in Italy soon after the accession of iEmil- 
ian, and resolved to dispute his title to the crown. The op- 
posing armies once more met near Spoletium, and, by a just 
retribution, ^milian suifered the fate of his predecessors, 
three months after he had ascended the throne. 

16. The calamities of the empire went on continually in- 
creasing. On the Lower Rhine there had been formed a 

confederacy of several German tribes, the Chau- 
kS a!!!""" ci^ Cherusci, Chatti, and others, which, under the 
Smesofthe name of Franks (i. e.. Freemen), became one of 
empire. Rome's most formidable enemies. South of these, 

the Alemanni, in the tract between the Lahn and Switzer- 
land, had broken through the Roman rampart, absorbed the 
Agri Decumates, together with a portion of Vindelicia, and 
assumed from this position an aggressive attitude, threaten- 
ing not only Gaul but Rhaetia, and even Italy. On the Low- 
er Danube and on the shores of the Euxine, the Goths, who 
had now taken to the sea, menaced with their numerous 
fleets Thrace, Pontus, Asia Minor, Macedonia, and Greece. 
Finally, in the remote East, Persia, under its new monarchs, 
the Sassanidge, was growing in strength, and extending it- 
self at the expense of Rome towards the north-west. Vale- 
rian, already sixty years of age at his accession, felt his ina- 
bility to grapple with these various dangers, and associated. 



566 ROME. [book v. 

in his second year, a.d. 254, his son Gallienus in the empire. 
Bnt the young jjrince was no more equal to the occasion 
than his aged father. The entire joint reign of Valerian and 

his son (a.d. 254 to 260), as well as the succeed- 
liemis, A.D.' ' ing sole reign of the latter (a.d. 260 to 268), was 
2b0-26s. ^^^^ uninterrupted series of disorders- and disas- 

ters. The Franks harried Gaul and Spain at their will, and 
even passed into Africa. The Alemanni crossed the Rhae- 
tian Alps, invaded Italy, and advanced as far on the way to 
Rome as Ravenna. The Goths occupied Dacia, and, issu- 
ing with their fleets from the Cimmerian Bosphorus, ravaged 
Northern and Western Asia Minor, destroyed Pityus, Trebi- 
zond, Chalcedon, Nicomedia, Nicgea, Prusa, Cius, Cyzicus, and 
Ephesus, overran Greece, took Athens and Corinth, and car- 
ried off an immense booty into the i-egions beyond the Dan- 
ube. The Persians, under Sapor, conquered Armenia, in- 
vaded Mesopotamia, defeated Valerian and took him prison- 
er near Edessa, advanced into Syria, surprised and burnt 
Antioch, took Tarsus and Caesarea Mazaca, and returned tri- 
umphant into their own country. At the same time, and in 
consequence of the general disorganization which these vari- 
ous invasions produced, numerous independent sovereigns 
started up in different parts of the Roman empire, as Odena- 

thus in the East, who reisrned at Palmyra over 

Time of the j c? »/ 

" Thirty Ty- Syria and the adjacent countries, Posthumus and 
rants." Victorinus in Gaul, Celsus in Africa, Ingenuus and 

Aureolus in lUyria, Macrianus in Asia Minor, I^iso in Thessa- 
ly, ^milianus in Egypt, etc. These sovereigns — known as 
the " Thirty Tyrants " — had for the most part brief and in- 
glorious reigns ; and their kingdoms were generally as short- 
lived as themselves. In two quarters, however, a tendency 
to a permanent splitting-up of the empire was exhibited. 
The kingdom of Odenathus passed from that prince to his 
widow Zenobia,.and lasted for ten years — from a.d. 264 to 
273. The Gallic monarchy of Posthumus showed still great- 
er vitality, continuing for seventeen years, under four suc- 
cessive princes, Posthumus, Victorinus, Marius, and Tetricus. 
Gallienus, quite incapable of grappling with the terrible dif- 
ficulties of the time, aimed at little more than maintaining 
his authority in Italy. Even there, however, he was attack- 
ed by Aureolus ; and in the war which followed, his own sol 



PAKT I., I'Eii. VI.] GALLIENUS TO AUKELIAN. 507 

cliers slew liim as be lay before Milan, into wbieb Aureolus 
bad tbrown bimself, a.d. 268. 

The chief authority for this troublous period is Tkkbkllius Pollio, Avhose 
Lives of Valerian, Gallienus, and the "Thirty Tyrants" are contained in the 
"Augustan History." Aurei.ius Victor, Zosimus, and Zoxaras must 
also be consulted. For the Gothic wars the best authority is Jornandes, 
De Getarum sive Gothorum origine et rebus gestis. Hamburg, IGll ; 4to. 
For the history of the "Thirty Tyrants," the student may consult with ad- 
vantage Manso's Dissertation at the end of his Lehen Constantins des Gross- 
en. Breslau, 181.7 ; 8vo. 

17. From tbe state of extreme weakness and disorganiza- 
tion wbicli Rome bad now readied, a state wbicb seemed to 
„ ,. , portend ber almost immediate dissolution, sbe 

Partial recov- i . ^ , • p i i 

eryoftheRo- was raiscd oy a succession ol able emperors, 
mpue. ^^,j^^^ altbougli tbeir reigns w^ere nnbappily sboi t, 
contrived at once to reunite tbe fragments into wbicb tbe 
empire bad begun to split, and to maintain for tbe most 
part tbe integrity of tbe frontiers against tbe barbarians. 
Claudius, Aurelian, Tacitus, Probus, and Carus — five war- 
like princes — reigned from a.d. 268 to 283, and in tliis space 
of fifteen years, tbe progress tbat was made towards a recov- 
ery of tbe poAver and prestige of Rome is most remarkable. 
„ , M. Aurelius Claudius, tbe successor of Gallienus, 

ReignofClau- , . -, ^ ^^ ^v.^ . t 

dms, A.D.2GS- wbo reigucd from a.d. 268 to 270, gamed a great 
victory over tlie Alemanni in Nortbern Italy in 

A.D. 268, and anotber over tbe Gotbs at Nissa in Moesia, 
A.D. 269. His successor, L. Domitius Aurelianus, 

EeignofAu- _ ^ ^ t . -r» • ^^-^ 

reiian,A.D.27o routcd an army of Goths m Pannoma, a.d. 270, 
and effectually cbecked tbe Alemanni in Nortb 
Italy. Bent on reuniting tbe fragments of tbe empire, be un- 
dertook a war against Zenobia, a.d. 272, and brougbt it to a 
liappy conclusion tbe year after. He tben turned bis arms 
against tbe great Western kingdom of Gaul, Spain, and 
Britain, wbicb was beld by Tetricus, and succeeded in re-es- 
tablisbing tbe -au'tbority of Rome over tbose regions, a.d. 

274. He was about to proceed against tbe Persians, a.d. 

275, wben be fell a victim to tbe malice of bis private secre- 
tary, Eros (or Mnestbeus), wbose misconduct be bad tbreat- 
ened to pmiisb. 

The "Augustan History" contains a Life of Claudius by Trebellius 
Pollio, and one of Aurelian by Flavius Vopiscus. 

The splendor of its ruins and the romantic story of its queen, Zenobia, 



508 ROME. [book v. 

have attached a special interest to Palmyra and its brief life as an independ- 
ent kingdom. Odenathus, the founder, first distinguished himself by raising 
an army against Sapor, when that prince had defeated Valerian, and inflict- 
ing losses upon him during his retreat. He was acknowledged as a sort of 
colleague to Gallienus, a.d. 264. Murdered by his nephew, Majonius, a.d. 
267, he was succeeded by his widow, Zenobia, who avenged him by putting 
Mteonius to death, and ruled from a.d. 267 to 273, as regent for her son Va- 
balathus. In the reign of Claudius she made an attempt to conquer Egypt, 
which was unsuccessful, a.d, 269. Aurelian attacked her, a.d. 272, defeated 
her in two gi-eat battles, near Antioch and Emesa (Hems), pursued her to 
Palmyra, and (a.d. 273) forced her to surrender. The city was mildly treat- 
ed at first, but, revolting as soon as Aurelian had returned to Europe, was de- 
stroyed. Zenobia, transferred to Italy, became a Roman matron. 

On the architectural glories of Palmyra the student may consult the follow- 
ing works : 

Wood, H., The Ruins of Palmyra. London, 1753 ; folio. A magnificent 
work for the time at which it was published. Not superseded by any later 
one. 

Addison, C. G., Damascus and Palmyra. London, 1838 ; 2 vols. 8vo. 

18; The military glories of Aurelian's reign have thrown 
into some obscurity his prudential measures; yet to these 
„ , , Rome probably owed as much. He finally relin- 

He abandons .,1 i^-, -.t-t -, i i "i* 

Daciaaudfor- quished to the Goths and Vandals the outlymg 
province of Dacia, which had proved from the 
time of its occupation by Trajan nothing but an incum- 
brance to the empire. The Roman inhabitants were re- 
moved across the Danube into Moesia, a part of which was 
henceforth known as " Dacia Aureliani." Aurelian also for- 
tified the capital anew, thus securing it from a cotq:> de main, 
which the incursions of the Alemanni had shown to be a real 
danger. His walls, which were restored by Honorius, con- 
tinue, with some small exceptions, to be those of the modern 
city. 

On the walls of Aurelian, see Becker, De Itomce veteris muris atque portis, 
Lipsise, 1842 ; 8vo ; and Bunsen, Beschreibung der Stadt Rom. (See p. 
388.) 

19. The assassination of Aurelian was displeasing to the 
army which he commanded; and the soldiers, instead of al- 
Kei u of Taci- ^^wing any of their ofiicers to assume the purple, 
tus, A.D.2T5- applied to the Senate to appoint a new emperor. 
The Senate hesitated; but, after an interval of 
six months, comj^lied with the request, and elected M. Clau- 
dius Tacitus, one of their body. A pleasing dream was en- 
tertained for a few weeks of restoring: something: like the old 



PART I., PER. VI.] AURELIiVN TO PROBUS. 5G9 

Republic; but the illusion soon vanished. Tacitus was called 
away from Home by an irruption of the Alani into Asia Mi- 
nor, and there perished, six or seven months after his acces- 
sion, either from weakness or through military violence. 

The Life of Tacitus, by Vopiscus,,in the Uist. August. Scriptores, is the 
special authority for this reign, 

20. On learning the death of Tacitus, Florian, his brother, 
assumed the imperial dignity at Rome, while the army of 
KeigusofFio- the East Vaised to the purple their general, M. 
aud'probSf' Aurelius Probus. A bloody contest for the em- 
A.D. 27G-28-2. pii-e seemed impending ; but it was prevented by 
the lukewarmness of Florian's soldiers in his cause. Sacri- 
ficing their leader, who survived his brother little more than 
three months, they passed over to his rival, Avho thus became 
undisputed emperor. Probus was a w^arlike, and at the 
same time a careful and prudent prince, anxious to benefit 
his subjects, not merely by military expeditions, but by the 
arts of peace. He delivered. Gaul from the German hordes 
which infested it, and carried the Roman arms once more be- 
yond the Rhine to the banks of the Neckar and the Elbe. 
The "Agri Decumates" became again a portion of the em- 
pire, and the rampart of Hadrian was restored and strength- 
ened. On the Danube Probus chastised the Sarmatians, and 
by the mere terror of his arms induced the Goths to sue for 
peace. In Asia Minor he recovered Isanria, Avhich had fall- 
en into the hands of robbers. In Africa he pacified Egypt. 
The court of Persia sought his alliance. The troubles raised 
by the pretenders, Saturninus in the East, and Proculus and 
Bonosus in the West, he suppressed without any difiiculty. 
Among his plans for recruiting the strength of the empire 
two are specially noticeable — (1) the settlement in most of 
the frontier provinces of large bodies of captured or fugitive 
barbarians, Franks, Vandals, Bastarnse, Gepidse, etc., and (2) 
the improvement of agriculture by the drainage of marshy 
tracts and the planting of suitable localities with the grape. 
The first of these j^lans was attended with a good deal of 
success ; the second unfortunately provoked an outbreak 
which cost Probus his life. He had ventured to employ his 
soldiers in agricultural labors, which were distasteful to 
them, and perhaps injurious to their health. On this ac- 
count they mutinied, seized their arms, and, in a moment of 



570 ROME. [book v. 

passion, stained their hands with his blood. Probus died, 
A.t). 282. after a reign of six years and six months. 

The "Augustan History" contains Lives of Florian, Probus, Satuminus, 
Proculus, and Bonosus, all written by Flavius Vopiscus, who flourished 
under Diocletian and Constantine. 

21. After murdering Probus, the soldiers conferred the 
purple on M. Aurelius Carus, prefect of the praetorians, who 
Joint reign of proclaimed his two sons, Carinus and Numeria- 
^m^ ^^ 282 '^^Sj " Caesars," and associated the elder, Carinus, 
-2S3. ' in the cares of empire. Leaving this prince to 
conduct affairs in the West, Carus proceeded at the head of 
a laro-e army to Illyricum, where he inflicted a severe defeat 
on the Sarmatians, killing 16,000, and taking 20,000 prisoners; 
after which he proceeded to Persia, where he carried all before 
him, overrunning Mesopotamia, and taking Seleucia and Ctes- 
iphon. The complete conquest of Persia was anticipated ; 
but the sudden death of the Emperor — whom diflerent authors 
report to have been murdered, to have died of disease, and 
to have been killed by lightning — put a stop to the expedi- 
tion, and saved the kingdom of the Sassanidae. Carus died, 
A.D. 283, after he had reigned a little more than a year. On 
his death, his son Numerian was acknowledged as emperor. 

22. The year following, a.d. 284, saw the death of Nume- 
rian, who was murdered at Perinthus by his father-in-law, 

the praBtorian prefect, Arrius Aper. Carinus still 
menan%.»! ruled in the West ; but the army of the East, dis- 
283-284. covering the death of Numerian, which was con- 

cealed, set up a rival emperor in the person of Diocletian, 
who slew Aper with his own hand, and, marching westward, 
defeated Carinus, who was then assassinated by one of his 
officers, A.D. 285. 

The ' ' Augustan History " concludes at this point with Lives of Carus, Ca- 
rinus, and Numerian, the work of their contemporary, Fl. Vopiscus. 

23. The period of extreme military license here terminates. 
For ninety-two years, from a.d. 193 to 284, the soldiers had 
General re- enjoyed almost continuously the privilege of ap- 
viewofthe pointing whomsoever they pleased to the office 
"^ ^ ' of supreme ruler. In a few instances they had 
allowed a favorite prince — a Severus, a Valerian, a Claudius, 
a Carus — to nominate an associate or a successor; and on 
one occasion they had put the nomination unreservedly into 



PART I., PER. VI.] PROBUS TO DIOCLETIAN. 5 71 

the hands of the Senate; but generally they had asserted 
and maintained their right, at each vacancy of the throne, 
to choose and proclaim the imperator. They had likewise 
taken upon themselves to remove by assassination even the 
rulers of their own choice, w^hen they became oppressive or 
ill any w^ay unpopular. Ten emperors had thus 23erished by 
military violence in the space of sixty-six years (a.d. 217 to 
283), among them the virtuous Alexander, the mild Gordia- 
nus, the excellent Probus — and thus every emperor knew that 
he held office simply during the good pleasure of the troops, 
and that if he offended them his life would be the forfeit. 
Such a system w^as tolerable in only one respect — it tended 
naturally to place power in the hands of able generals. But 
its evils far more than counterbalanced this advantage. Be- 
sides the general sense of insecurity which it produced, and 
the absence of any thing like plan or steady system in the 
administration, consequent upon tlie rapid change of rulers, 
it necessarily led to the utter demoralization of the army, 
Avhicli involved as a necessary result the absolute ruin of 
the empire. The army was, under the imperial system, the 
" salt " of the Roman world ; to corrupt it was to sap the 
very life of the State. Yet how could discipline be main- 
tained, when every general ^vas bent on ingratiating him- 
self with his troops, in the hope of gaining what had come 
to be regarded as the great prize of his profession, and ev- 
ery emperor was aware that to institute a searching reform 
would be to sign his own death-warrant ? It was fortunate 
for Rome that she had powerful enemies upon her frontiers. 
But for the pressure thus put both upon the men and the of- 
ficers, her armies would have degenerated much more rapid- 
ly than they actually did, and her ruin would have been pre- 
cipitated. 

THIRD SECTION. 

From the Accession of Diocletian, a.d. 284, to the final Division of the 
Empire, a.d. 395. 

Sources. Besides the Epitomists, Eutropius, Aurelius Victor, Ru- 
Fus, ZoNARAS, and Orosius, the most important authorities for this period 
are, (1) Zosimus, whose Historia Nova covers the space between the acces- 
sion of Macrinus, a.d. 217, and the sixteenth year of Honorius, a.d. 410; 
(2) Ammianus Marcellinus, whose eighteen books of Histories contain a 
prolix account of the events which happened between a.d. 353 and 378 ; and 



572 ROME. [book v. 

(3) the obscure authors of the Panegyrics, Mamertinus, Eumenius, Naza- 
Kius, etc., -who must be consulted for the entire period between Diocletian 
and Theodosius (a.d. 284 to 395). Of inferior importance, yet still of con- 
siderable value, are the Christian writers, Eusebius (Historia Ecclesiastica ; 
ed. BuKTON. Oxoniis, 18oG ; 8vo, and Vita Constantini Magni ; ed. Hei- 
NiCHEN. Lipsia;, 1830), Lactantius {Opera. Biponti, 1786 ; 2 vols. 8vo), 
John op Malala (in C, Mitllek's Fragm. Hist. 6r?-cec., vol. iv.), John of 
Antioch (in the same collection), Socrates, Sozomen, Theodoret, Eva- 
GRiTJS, etc. The Armenian History of Moses of Choren is occasionally 
serviceable (see p. 311). Another important source is the Codex Theodosi- 
anus (ed. Sismondi. Lipsiai, 1736-45 ; 6 vols, folio), Avhich gives the laws 
passed between a.d. 313 and 438, and the Codex Justinianus (ed. Kriegel. 
LipsiiB, 1844 ; 3 vols. 8vo), which contains numerous laAvs of emperors be- 
tween Hadrian and Constantine. Coins, medals, and inscriptions are also 
valuable for the period. 

Among modern works treating especially, or inclusively, of the period, are 
the following : 

Le Beau, Histoire du Bas-Empire commengant a Constantin le Grand 
(continued by Ameilhon). Paris, 1824 ; 20 vols. 8vo. 

Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (see p. 554). Chapters 
xiii. to xxviii. treat of this period. 

Niebuhr, Lectures on the History of Rome ; edited by Dr. L. Schmitz. 
London, 1849 ; 3 vols. 8vo. Lectures cxxix. to cxxxviii. 

1. With the accession of Diocletian the declining empire 
experienced another remarkable revival, a revival, more- 
Fresh revival over, of a new character, involving many changes, 
Secomfar* and Constituting a fresh phase of imperialism, 
pK?ofim- which contrasts strongly with the previous one. 
periaiism. Power passed away from the hands of the sol- 
diers, and tended to become dynastic ; the principle of as- 
sociation, adopted on a wide scale, gave stability to the gov- 
ernment ; the helm of the State was grasped by firm hands, 
and various new arrangements were made, all favorable to 
absolutism. Such restraint as the Senate had up to this 
time exercised on the despotic authority of the emperors — 
a restraint slightest no doubt in the cases where it was most 
needed, yet still in the worst case not wholly nugatory — 
was completely removed by the departure of the Court from 
Rome, and the erection of other cities — Nicomedia, Milan, 
Constantinople — into seats of government. When Rome 
Avas no longer the capital, the Roman Senate became a mere 
municipal body, directing the affairs of a single provincial 
town; and as its lost privileges were not transferred to 
another assembly, the Emperor remained the sole source of 



PART I., PER. VI.] NEW PHASE OF IMPERIALISM. 573 

law, the sole fountain of honor, the one and only principle 
of authority. Again, the influence of the praetorians, who, 
in their fortified camp, at once guarding and commanding 
Rome, had constituted another check on the absolute power 
of the princes, ceased with- the reforms of Diocletian and 
Oonstantine, who respectively diminished their numbers and 
suppressed them. The Orientalization of the Court, the 
comparative seclusion of the monarch, and the multiplica- 
tion of ofiicers and ceremonies, weakened, if it did not even 
destroy, such little control as public opinion had hitherto 
exercised over the caprices of the monarch. Above all, 
the multiplication of emperors and the care taken to secure 
the throne against such an occurrence as a vacancy, took 
from the legionaries the power, which they had so long ex- 
ercised and so much abused, of making and destroying mon- 
archs at their will, and placed the imperial authority almost 
beyond the risk of danger from military violence. 

2. While the principle of authority was thus gaining in 
strength, and the anarchy which had prevailed for more 
Establishment than half a century was giving place to the firm, 
ty as thVstate if somewhat over-despotic, rule of princes who 
fnfSn of f^l^ themselves secure in their possession of the 
fresh life. throne, another quite separate and most impor- 
tant change was taking place, whereby new life was infused 
into the community. Christianity, hitherto treated as inim- 
ical to the StatCj contemned and ignored, or else down-trod- 
den and oppressed, found itself at length taken into favor by 
the civil power, being first tolerated by Galerius, after he 
had vainly endeavored to root it out, and then established 
by Constantine. As there can be no doubt that by this 
time the great mass of the intellect and virtue of the nation 
had passed over to the Christian side, the State can not but 
have gained considerably by a change which enabled it to 
employ freely these persons. 

3. But scarcely any political change is without it« draw- 
backs. The establishment of Christianity as the State relig- 
Advantages ion, while it alienated those w^ho still adhered to 
Hshment ^ ' heathenism, tended to corrupt Christianity itself, 
certahTS? re^ which persecution had kept pure, turned the at- 
suits. tention of the rulers from the defense and safety 
of the empire to minute questions of heterodoxy and ortho^ 



574 ROME. [book v. 

doxy, and engaged the civil power in new struggles with its 
own subjects, whom it was called upon to coerce as heretics 
or schismatics. Moreover, the adoption of Christianity by a 
state, all whose antecedents were bound up with heathenism, 
was like the putting of a "new patch on an old garment," 
which could not bear the alteration. All the old associations, 
all the old motives to self-sacrifice and patriotism, all the old 
watch-words and rallying cries were discredited ; and new 
ones, in harmony with the new religion, could not at once be 
extemporized. A change of religion, even though from false 
to true, can not but shake a nation to its very core ; and the 
Roman body-politic was too old and too infirm not to suifer 
severely from such a disturbance. The change came too 
late thoroughly to revive and renovate ; it may therefore, not 
improbably, have weakened and helped towards dissolution. 

4. Nor were the other political changes of the period 
wholly and altogether beneficial. The partition of the su- 
Eviis attend- preme power among numerous co-ordinate em- 
Suges°onhe pcrors was a fertile source of quarrel and misun- 
period. derstanding, and gave rise to frequent civil wars. 
The local principle on which the partition was made in- 
creased the tendency towards a disruption of the empire 
into fragments, which had already manifested itself (see p. 
566). The degradation of Rome and the exaltation of rival 
capitals worked in the same direction, and was likewise a 
breaking with the past which could not but be trying and 
hazardous. The completer despotism gave, no doubt, new 
vigor to the administration ; but it was irksome and revolt- 
ing to the feelings of many, more especially in the provinces 
of the West ; it alienated their afiections, and jirepared them 
to submit readily to a change of governors. 

5. But, if the remedies devised by the statesmen of the 
Diocletianic period were insufficient to restore the Empire 
Balance of ad- to its pristine Strength and vigor, at any rate 
vor^ofthe^ ^^' ^^1 acted as stimulants, and revived the mori- 
changes. bund State very wonderfully for a space of time 
not inconsiderable. From the accession of Diocletian to the 
death of Theodosius the Great (a.d. 284 to 395), is a period 
exceeding a century. During the whole of it, Rome main- 
tained her frontiers and her unity, rolled back each wave of 
invasion as it broke upon her, and showed Zierself superior to 



PART I., PER. VI. J DIOCLETIAN. 575 

all the surrounding peoples. For the gleam of glory which 
thus gilds her closing day, must we nob regard her as in a 
great measure indebted to the reforms of Diocletian and 
Constantino ? 

C. Diocletian was proclaimed emperor by the soldiers, in 
September, a.d. 284. He defeated Carinus, and entered on 
Reign of Dio- ^^^^ ^^^^ Sovereignty, in the following year. His 
cietiau and fji-gt public mcasurc (a.d. 286) was to associate in 

Maximian, ■, -T-, • t 

A.D. 284^05. the Empire, imder the title ol "Auo-ustus" his 

Galerins and , ^ . ' n r • • f -. -. . 

constautius comrade m arms, Maximian, a man who had risen 
"CTesuis. fi-oni the ranks, and w^ho had few merits besides 
that of being a good general. A few years later (a.d. 292), 
he completed his scheme of government by the further crea- 
tion of two " Csesars," who were to stand to the two "Au- 
gusti " as sons and successors. Galerius and Constantius, se- 
lected respectively for this important office by Diocletian 
and Maximian, were both of them active and able generals, 
younger than their patrons, and well suited to fill the j)osi- 
tion w^hich was assigned to them. They readily accepted 
the offers of the two emperors, and, after repudiating their 
own wives, married respectively the daughter and the step- 
daughter of their patrons. The Imperial College being thus 
complete, Diocletian jDroceeded to a division of the empire 
analogous to that which had formerly taken place under the 
triumvirs (see p. 496). Reserving to the elder "Augusti" 
the more settled provinces, he assigned to the " Csesars " 
those which required the care of younger and more active 
men. Gaul, Spain, and Britain, with the defense of the Rhine 
against the Germans, Avere intrusted to Constantius; the 
Danubian provinces, Noricum, Pannonia, and Moesia, to Ga- 
lerius ; Italy and Africa to Maximian ; while Diocletian him- 
self retained Thrace, Macedon, Egypt, and the East. It was 
understood, however, that the unity of the empire w^as to 
be preserved ; the " Caesars " were to be subordinate to the 
"Augusti ;" and the younger "Augustus " was to respect the 
superior dignity of the elder. The four princes were to form 
an imperial " Board " or " College," and were to govern the 
whole State by their united wisdom. 

On the relative position of the ^'August!" and the "Cresars," the reader 
may consult a Dissertation by Manso at the end of his Leben Constantins 
des Grossen (see p. 567). 



576 ROME. [uooK v. 

7. The complex governmental system thus established by- 
Diocletian worked thoroughly well while he himself retained 
Success of the the superintendence of the machine which he had 
"ew system of ji^yented. No quarrels arose ; the " Caesars " re- 
warsofthe strained themselves within the limits set them; 

period pros- -, «^ • • i ^ - -i • 

parous. and Maxnuian was always ready to submit his 

judgment to that of his benefactor. Many dangers from 
without, and some from within, threatened the State ; but 
they were met with energy and combated with success by 
the imperial rulers. In Britain, for a while (a.d. 287 to. 293), 
a rebel chief, Carausius, a German probably, defied the Ko- 
man arms, and maintained an independent sovereignty ; but 
the authority of Rome was re-established in this quarter 
(a.d. 296) by the victories of Constantius. Maximian put 
down the troubles which, as early as a.d. 287, had broken 
out in Gaul; while at a later date (a.d. 297), Constantius 
delivered the same province from a furious invasion of the 
Alemanni. Galerius, after maintaining for many years the 
honor of the Roman arms upon the Danube, engaged the 
Persians in the far East, and although at first signally de- 
feated (a.d. 297), made up for his defeat by a great victory 
in the year following, which led to a peace very advanta- 
geous to the Romans. Finally, Diocletian and Maximian 
subdued revolt in Africa, chastised the Moors and the Egyp- 
tians, and put to death the pretenders who had raised the 
standard of revolt in those regions. 

Details of the British and Persian Wars. (1) British War. Re- 
volt of Carausius, a.d. 287. He is attacked by Maximian and repulses him, 
a.d. 289. Peace made ; Carausius allowed the title of Augustus, a.d. 290. 
Death of Carausius, who is murdered by his first minister, AUectus, a.d. 293. 
Allectus becomes king. Landing of Constantius in Britain, a.d. 296. De- 
feat and death of Allectus, and recovery of the island. (2) Persian War. 
War provoked by the Romans, who seize Armenia and make it over to their 
vassal, Tiridates, a.d. 286. Araienia recovered by the Persians, a.d. 296. 
Galerius enters Mesopotamia, a.d. 297, and, after one or two indecisive en- 
gagements, is met and defeated by the Persians near Carrhte (Hairan). 
Having collected a new army, he advances through Armenia upon Assyria, 
and defeats the Persian king, Narses, in the mountains, a.d. 298. Peace is 
made the same year, by the cession to the Romans of several small provinces 
beyond the Tigris, and the enlargement of the dominions of Tiridates. 

8. But while success attended the arms of Diocletian and 
his colleagues against whatever enemy they were turned, 



fAUT I., i-EK. VI. J DIOCLeTIAN. 577 

Defects iu the whether foreign or domestic, the results achieved 
mfnfstration. t)y thc internal administration of the empire were 
of theT'hris- ^^^^ Satisfactory. After long consideration, Dio- 
tians. cletian determined, towards the close of a.d. 302, 

to compel uniformity of religion, and for this purpose issued 
an edict against the Christians (a.d. 303), Avhich led to ter- 
rible excesses. Throughout the entire empire, except in the 
extreme West, where Constantius protected those of the 
" new religion," one- half of the community found itself pro- 
scribed ; the most relentless persecution followed ; thou- 
sands were put to death in almost every province ; the 
churches were demolished, endowments confiscated, the sa- 
cred books burnt, meetings for worship prohibited, the cler- 
gy declared enemies of the State, A war of extermination 
commenced, to which there seemed to be no end; for, as 
usual, the "blood of the martyrs" proved the "seed of the 
Church," and the ranks of the Christians were replenished 
as fast as they were thinned. A state of things worse than 
eivil war prevailed, authority being engaged in a conflict in 
which it could not succeed, and being thus brought into dis- 
repute, while the most cruel sufferings were day by day in- 
flicted on the citizens who were least deserving of them. 

9. Nor was suffering at this period confined to the Chris- 
tians. The establishment of four Courts instead of one, and 
General snf- the multiplication of ofiicials and of armies, vastly 
op"?fssKe^ augmented the expenditure ; and a heavy increase 
taxation. ^f taxation was the necessary consequence. The 
provinces groaned under the burden of oppressive imposts ; 
Avhich were wrung from the reluctant tax-payer by violence 
and even by torture. Industry sank beneath a system 
which left it without reward ; production diminished ; and 
the price of all commodities rose. To meet this evil, a futile 
attempt was made to fix by law a maximum of prices for 
all the necessaries, and most of the commodities, of life, for 
corn, wine, and oil, salt, honey, butchers'-meat, vegetables, 
clothes, fish, fruit, laborers' wages, schoolmasters' and advo- 
cates' fees, boots and Aides, harness, timber, and beer. Such 
an interference with the natural course of trade could only 
aggravate the evils which it was intended to allay. 

The celebrated *' Edict of Diocletian," discovered by Col. Leake at Eski- 
Hissar in Asia Minor, appears to have been issued in a.d. 301. It runs in 

25 



578 ROME. [I5COK V. 

the name of the four emperors, and fixes the price of all the articles aboA-e 
named, and of many others, in denarii. An excellent edition of the Edict 
has been published by Mommsen, under the title, Das Edict Diocletians de 
pretiis rerum venalium. Leipzig, 1851 ; 8vo. 

10. The severe illness which afflicted Diocletian in a.d. 
304, was probably the chief cause determining him on the 
Diocletian i^ost Celebrated act of his life — his abdication. 
andMaximi- His health made rest necessary for him; and he 

au abdicate, *' ' 

A. I). 305: Save- may naturally have desired to preside over the 
min'are made stcps whicli required to be taken in order to se- 
" Caesars. ' ^^^^.^ ^^^ Continuance of his system after he him- 
self should have quitted life. Accordingly, he formally ab- 
dicated his power in a.d. 305, after a reign of twenty-one 
years, and compelled Maximian to do the same. The two 
" Caesars," Galerius and Constantius, became hereupon "Au- 
gusti," and should, according to the original design of Dio- 
cletian, have respectively succeeded to the provinces of the 
East and of the West, and have each appointed a " Caesar " 
to rule a portion of his dominions. But the partiality of Di- 
ocletian for his own " Caesar" and son-in-law, Galerius, or his 
conviction that the empire required a chief ruler to prevent 
it from breaking up, produced a modification of the original 
plan. Galerius, with Diocletian's sanction, appointed both the 
new " Caesars," and assigned them their governments, giving 
to his nephew Maximin, Syria and Egypt ; to his friend Se- 
verus, Italy and Africa. Constantius simply retained what he 
already had. Galerius reserved for his own share the entire 
tract between Gaul and Syria, and was thus master, in his 
own person or by his deputies, of three-fourths of the empire. 

11. The new partition of the empire was followed shortly 
by the death of Constantius, who expired at York, July 24, 
Constantius ^'^' ^^^- ^^^ ^^^ dcccase, the legions immediate- 
dies, a.d. sog. ly proclaimed his son, Constantine, his successor. 

oGvcrus is *{ ■*■ ^ ^ 

made "Au- This was an infringement of the new order of 
gus US. things ; but Galerius felt liimself obliged to con- 

done it, to recognize a legitimate " Caesar " in the new prince, 
while he raised Severus to the rank^ "Augustus." The har- 
mony of the empire was thus still preserved, in spite of the 
irregularity which had threatened to disturb it, and the Ro- 
man world continued to be still amicably governed by four 
princes, two of whom were "Augusti" and two "Caesars." 



PART I., VER. vi.J CONSTAi^TINE. 579 

12. Bat it was not long before the tranquillity was inter- 
rupted. Maxcntius, son of Maximian, took advantage of the 
Revolt of discontent prevalent in Rome and Italy owing to 
Miixentins ; the loss of privilege and dignity, to raise the 
six emperors, Standard of rcvolt, assume the imperial orna- 
A.D. 307-309. jjj(3j^|^g^ jjjj(j iboldly proclaim himself emperor. His 
father, Maximian, joined him, and resumed the rank of "Au- 
gustus." In vain Severus hurried to Rome, and endeavored 
to crush the insurrection. Abandoned by his troops, he fell 
into his enemy's hands, and w^as compelled to end his life by 
suicide, a.d. 307. In vain Galerius, at the head of all the 
forces of the central and eastern provinces, sought to impose 
his will on the rebellious Romans and Italians; after a short 
campaign he was obliged to retreat without effecting any 
thing. . Maximian and Maxentius, Avho had allied themselves 
with Constantino, held their ground successfully against the 
efforts of their antagonists ; and for a brief space the empire 
was administered peacefully by six emperors, Constantine, 
Maximian, and Maxentius in the West ; in the East, Galeri- 
us, Maximin, and Licinius, who had received the imperial 
dignity from Galerius after the death of Severus. 

13. The inherent evil of tlie new system of government 
now began to show itself First, Maximian and Maxentius 
Wars between quarrelled, and the former was forced to take ref- 
mtulononhe ^g^ with Constantino. Then Constantine him- 
CoJstanUnl,'' ^^^^ ^^^ *^ defend his position against the in- 
A.n. 324. ' trigues of his father-in-law, and having defeated 
him, put him to death, a.d. 310. In the next year Galerius 
perished by the miserable death which has often befallen 
persecutors ; and the rulers of the Roman world were thus 
reduced to four, Constantine in the West, Maxentius in Italy 
and Africa, Licinius in Illyricum and Thrace, Maximin in 
Egypt and Asia. But no friendly feeling now united the 
members of the Imperial College. War broke out between 
Constantine and Maxentius in a.d. 312, and between Licinius 
and Maximin in the year following. In each case the strug- 
gle was soon decided. Constantine vanquished his adversa- 
ry in two battles — one near Yerona, the other at the Colline 
gate — and became master of Rome and Italy. Maxentius 
perished in the Tiber. Maximin was defeated by Licinius in 
a single great fight, near Heracleia ; but the victory was de- 



580 ROME. [ijooK V. 

cisive, being followed shortly by the defeated emperor's sui- 
cide. It remained that the two victors, lords respectively 
of the East and of the West, should measure their strength 
against each other. This they did in a.d. 314; and after a 
long and bloody struggle, interrupted by an interval of 
peace (a.d. 315 to 322), victory declared itself in favor of the 
Western legions, and Constantine, wdio is not without reason 
given the epithet of " the Great," became sole master of the 
reunited Roman Empire. The defeated Licinius was, as a 
matter of course, put to death, a.d. 324. 

Details of the War betaveen Constantine and Licinius, a.d. 314 
to 324. War provoked by the intrigues of Licinius. First battle at Cibalis 
on the Save. Licinius, defeated with great loss, escapes with difficulty, a.d. 
314. Second battle at Mardia, in Thrace. Constantine again successful. 
Peace made. Pannonia, Illyricum, Moesia (or Dacia), Macedonia, and 
Greece ceded to Constantine. Peace broken by the ambition of Constan* 
tine, who is bent on obtaining the whole empire, a.d. 323. Licinius, defeat- 
ed near Hadrianople, throws himself into Byzantium. Siege of Byzantium 
and flight of Licinius to Asia. Last battle at Chrysopolis in Bithynia. Li- 
cinius, once more defeated, submits, and is put to death, a.d. 324. 

14. The reign of Constantine the Great is the turning- 
point of this period of the history. He completed the revo- 
ReignofCou- lution whicli Diocletian had begun. By his en- 
soe-m ' He' *"'^ abolition of the praetorians, and conversion 
rsteraofDj^- ^^ ^^^^^^' P^'^fects into purely civil officers, he se- 
cietiau. g. cured the State as far as was possible from the 
tyranny of the sword. By the erection of his new capital, 
and the formal transfer of the seat of government from 
Rome to Byzantium, he put the finishing stroke to the deg- 
radation of the old metropolis, destroyed forever the power 
of the Senate, and freed the emperors from all those galling 
restrictions which old constitutional forms and usages im- 
posed upon them. By his organization of the Court on a 
thoroughly Eastern model, he stamped finally on the later 
empire the character of Orientalism which attaches to it. 
Finally, by his new division of the empire into Prefectures^ 
and his assignment of difierent portions of his dominions to 
his sons and nephews, on whom he conferred the titles of 
" Caesar," or '' King," he maintained in a modified form the 
principles of a federated as distinct from a centralized gov- 
ernment, and of joint as distinct from sole rule, which was 
the most original, and at the same time the most doubtful, 
of Diocletian's conceptions. 



PART I., PKK. VI.] KEFORMS OF CONSTANTINE. 581 

An excellent account of the new organization of the empire under Con- 
stantine has been written by Marquardt, and will be found in Becker's 
Ilandbuch der Rijmischen Alterthumer, vol. iii,, part i. (Leipzig, 1843-04: ; 5 
vols. 8vo). The chief points of the organization were the following : 

The whole empire was divided into four prefectures {pr(pfecturcp), each 
under its prtetorian prefect (j)rcpfectus prcetorio). These were, I. The Pre- 
New arrange- lecture of the Gauls (prcefectura Galliarum), comprising 
meutofthcT three dioceses, each under a vicar (vicarius), those, namely, 
provinces. ^^ ^^^ gp,^j„^ ^^2) Gaul, or the Seven Provinces, and (3) Brit- 
ain ; which were further subdivided into governments, under consulars (con- 
sul ares) or presidents (2)r(vsides), seven in Spain, seventeen in Gaul, and five 
in Britain — Total, 29. 11. The Prefecture of Italy, comprising like- 
wise three dioceses, those of (1) the city of Rome, (2) Italy, and (3) Africa, 
and subdivided into thirty governments, under consulars, presidents, correct- 
ors (correctores) or dukes (duces), five in Africa, ten in the diocese of the 
city of Rome, which corresponded to Southern and Central Italy, and four- 
teen in the Italian diocese, which comprised North Italy, Rhastia, Pannonia, 
Noricum, and Dalmatia — Total, 30. III. The Prefecture of Illyri- 
CUM, divided into two dioceses, (1) Dacia, and (2) Macedonia, the former 
comprising five, and the latter six governments ; to which must be further 
added Achsea, which had its own proconsul. Total number of governments, 
12. IV. The Prefecture of the East (prcefectura Orientis), which 
contained five dioceses, those of (1) the East (Orientis), (2) Egypt, (3) Asia, 
(-t) Pontus, and (5) Thrace ; forming altogether forty-six governments, un- 
der consulars, presidents, correctors, dukes, and counts (comites), fifteen of 
which were in "the East," or Syria and Mesopotamia, six in the diocese of 
Egypt, eight in that of "Asia" (Asia Minor), eleven in Pontus, and six in 
Thrace ; while two others were extra-diocesan, those of the Hellespont and 
the Greek islands. Total, in this prefecture, 48. Grand total of govern- 
ments in the four prefectures, 1 19. 

The organization of the Court was as follows : At its head were seven chief 
officers — (1) the grand chamberlain (prcepositus sancti cuhiculi) ; under 
. whom was, first, his deputy (vicarius), and secondly, the counts 

of the Court of the palace and the bedchamber (comites palatii and cuhicu- 
and its offi- larii), who had the superintendence respectively of the royal 
table and wardrobe, and were marshalled in four divisions. (2) 
The chancellor, or "master of the offices" (magister officiorum), who was 
at once a judge and a minister, it being his duty to determine all causes in 
which persons connected with the Court were concerned, to receive and an- 
swer memorials, to direct the ports and arsenals, and to receive the envoys 
of foreign powers. The business of this important functionary was transact- 
ed in four distinct offices (scrinia), and employed 148 clerks. (3) The quces- 
tor, an officer who has no correspondent in modem times. He was the or- 
gan of the Emperor in legislation, composed and usually suggested his edicts, 
and resolved the doubts of inferior judges. (4) The treasurer-general, or 
"count of the sacred largesses" (comes sacrarum largitionum), who supei*- 
intended the collection and disbursement of the revenue, a business conduct- 
ed in eleven diiferent offices, and employing several hundreds of people. (5) 
The master of the privy purse (comes rei principis), who managed the Em- 



582 HOME. [book v. 

peror's private estate, (G) and (7) The two commanders of the household 
troops (comites domesticorum), the heads respectively of the two bands of cav- 
alry and infantry, which had taken the place of the old prtetorians, and 
watched over the safety of the Emperor. This service was now intrusted 
almost exclusively to Armenians ! 

The chief authority for these details is the Notitia dignitatum utriusque 
imperii, of which a good edition has been published by Bocking. (Bonna;, 
1839-53 ; 2 vols. 8vo.) 

15. But the reforms of Constantine were not limited by 
the range of his predecessor's conceptions. He established, 
not merely at the Court, but throughout the em- 
forms of con- pire, a graduated nobility, the archetype of the 
ItionSfkiio^-" modern systems, mainly but not wholly official, 
biiity. composed of three ranks: (l) the "illustrious" 

{illustres) ; (2) the " respectable " (sjJectaMles) ; and (3) the 
"right honorable" {darissimi). To the "illustrious" class 
belonged («) the consuls during their term of office ; {b) the 
patricians, life peers, who received the title of " patricius " 
at the will of the Emperor ; (c) the pnetorian prefects, six in 
number, four provincial and two metropolitan — the prefects 
respectively of Rome and Constantinople ; (d) the masters- 
general of the cavalry and infantry ; and (e) the seven chief 
officers of the Court, mentioned in the preceding section. 
Under the head of "respectable" were included {a) the pro- 
consuls of Asia, Africa, and Achaea ; (b) the heads of the thir- 
teen dioceses, whatever their special title, whether vicar, 
count, or augustal prefect ; and (c) the second rank of offi- 
cers in the army, thirty-five in number, of whom ten were 
" counts" and the remainder " dukes." The subordinate gov- 
ernors of provinces, consulars, presidents, and correctors, to- 
gether with the other members of the Roman and Constanti- 
nopolitan Senates, constituted the class of " right honora- 
bles " or " clarissimi." Constantine likewise reor- 
tion of the ganized the Roman army. He multiplied the 
^^^^^' number and reduced the strength of the legions, 

which were raised from thirty or thirty-one to a hundred and 
thirty-two, while the strength of each sank from 6000 to 1000 
or 1500. He divided the soldiers into the two classes of " pal- 
atines " and " borderers," the former quartered in the chief 
towns of the empire, the latter stationed upon the frontiers. 
The whole army he placed nnder two (later, under four) 
commanders, called respectively, " master of the horse " 



i'AKT I., I'EK. VI.] REFOKMS OF CONSTANTINE. 583 

{magister eqidtwn) and " master of the foot " {magister pe- 
ditiim)^ but each practically commanding mixed armies in 
the field. Next in rank to them were the various " counts " 
and " dukes," who acted as lieutenant or divisional generals, 
and were stationed in the more exposed provinces. 

16. It is not certain that Constantino made any change in 
the nature or amount of the taxes which the imj^erial gov- 
ernment exacted from its subjects. But the fact 

Commence- „ . ,. . ,, , 

mentofthe^ that the "era oi mdictions dates irom a year 
within his reign (Sept. 1,a.d. 312) would seem to 
imply that the practice of making a new survey of the em- 
pire for financial purposes every fifteen years Avas com- 
menced by him. The land-tax (ccqntatio or imlictio), with 
its supplement, the poll-tax {capitatio hmnana or plebeici)^ 
the tax on trades {ciiirimi lustrale)^ the indirect taxes, cus- 
toms, etc., the forced contributions {aurimi coronariuni) 
were, all of them, imposts of old standing at this time ; and 
it is not easy to see that Constantino added any others. He 
was probably rigid in his exaction of taxes, and may have 
been the first to require that all payments to the treasury 
should be made in gold ; but the charge of oppressing his 
subjects by the imposition of new and unheard-of burdens, 
which rests upon the sole testimony of the prejudiced Zosi- 
mus, is certainly " not proven." 

The ' ' era of indictions " did not come into use till the twelfth century, 
and thus belongs to modern, rather than to ancient, history. But the finan- 
cial employment of a cycle of fifteen years probably dates from the seventh 
year of Constantine. 

On the general subject of the later Roman taxation the student should con- 
sult the great work of Savigny, Geschichte des Romischen Rechts im Mittel- 
alter. Heidelberg, 1834-1851 ; 7 vols. 8vo. Second edition. 

17. But the great change, the crowning reform, introduced 
and carried through by Constantine was his reformation of 
Change of the religion. Here he did not so much go beyond as 
Heathenlm"* directly coutradict the ideal of Diocletian. Dio- 
partiaf am- ^ cletian, and after him Galerius, had endeavored 
ShChiis- *^ destroy Christianity, root and branch, by the 
tianity. fire of persecution. But they had failed; and 
Galerius had acknowledged the failure by an edict issued 
from his death-bed, which permitted to the Christians the 
free exercise of their religion, and invited them to aid the 



584 KOME. [book v. 

suffering emperor by their prayers. Galerius, however, and 
the emperors of his appointment, though they tolerated 
Christianity, had remained heathens, and had continued to 
maintain heathenism as the State religion. It remained for 
Constantine not merely to tolerate, but in a certain sense to 
establish, the new religion; to recognize its bishops and 
clergy as privileged persons, to contribute largely towards 
its endowment, to allow the meetings and give effect to the 
decrees of its councils, to conform the jurisprudence of the 
State to its precepts and its practices. Hence the laws 
Consequent against infixnticidc, against adultery, against ped- 
changesinUic gr^sty, against rape and seduction passed at this 
deuce. period; hence the edict for the general observ- 

ance of Sunday, and the new and strong restrictions upon 
the facility of divorce. Constantine did not indeed, as has 
sometimes been supposed, proscribe heathenism ; he did not 
shut up the temples, neither did he forbid the offering of sac- 
rifice. But he completely dissociated the State from hea- 
thenism, and to a certain extent allied it with Christianity ; 
he stopped all magisterial offering of sacrifice ; be shut up 
the temples where the ritual was immoral. Though not a 
baptized Christian till shortly before his death, he threw the 
whole weight of his encouragement on the Christian side ; 
and the rapid increase in the number of professing Chris- 
tians, which now set in, must be regarded as in great part 
the effect of his patronage. 

18. The character of Constantine has been variously esti- 
mated, according as his patronage of Christianity has been 
Character of li^^d or disliked. Tlie most impartial writers 
Constantine. yjew him as a man in whom vice and virtue, 
weakness and strength of mind were curiously blended. 
His military talents and his power of organization are in- 
contestable. His activity, courage, prudence, and affection- 
ateness can not be questioned. But he was less clement 
and humane than it was to have been expected that the 
first Christian emperor would have shown himself; he was 
strangely superstitious ; and his religion, so far as it can be 
gathered from his public acts, his coins, his medals, and his 
recorded speeches, was a curious medley of Christianity and 
paganism, which it is not pleasant to contemplate. His 
character deteriorated as time went on. His best period is 



PART I., VEIL VI.] DEATH OF CONSTANTINE. 585 

that of his administration of Gaul, a.d. 306 to 312. As he 
grew older, he became more suspicious, more irritable, more 
harsh and severe in his punishments. The darkest shadow 
which rests upon his reign is connected with the execution 
of his son, Crispus, and his nepliew, Licinius, events of the 
year a.d. 326 ; but it is impossible to say whether these acts 
were, or were not, a State necessity — whether they punished 
a contemplated crime, or were cruelties which had their ori- 
gin in a wicked and unworthy jealousy. The harmony 
which subsisted between Constantino and his other sons, 
and the kindness which he showed towards his half-brothers 
and their offspring, may reasonably incline us to the belief 
that in the great tragedy of his domestic life Constantino 
was rather unfortunate than guilty. 

The story that Constantine put to death his second wife, Fausta, on the 
charge of intriguing with a groom, discredited even by Gibbon, is more than 
doubtful. 

19. The later years of Constantine were troubled by the 
barbarians of the North and East, who once more assumed 
His wars and the aggressive, and invaded, or threatened to in- 
respfcf to\^he vade, the Roman territory. In the vigor of his 
successiou. youth and middle age he had repelled such at- 
tacks in person, defeating the Franks and Alemanni in Gaul, 
A.D. 309, and the Goths and Sarmatians upon the Danube, 
A.D. 322. Less active as he approached old age, he employed 
the arms of his eldest son, Constantine, to chastise the Goths 
in A.D. 332, and allowed the hostile proceedings of the Per- 
sians (a.d. 336) to pass unrebuked. At the same time he 
made preparations for the succession, in anticipation of his 
own demise, creating his third son, Constans, and his neph- 
ew, Dalmatius, "Caesars," making another nephew, Hanni- 
balianus. Rex, and assigning to these two nephews and his 
His death, three surviving sons the administration of differ- 
A.D. 33T. ent portions of his dominions. Constantine died, 

May 22, a.d. 337, having reigned nearly thirty-one years. 

The young Constantine was assigned the prcefectura Galliaruvi ; Constan- 
tius the prcefectura Orientis, excepting Pontus, Cappadocia, and Armenia 
Minor; Constans the prcefectura Italice; Dalmatius the prcefectura Illyrici. 
Hannibalianus received Pontus, Cappadocia, and Armenia Minor for his 
"kingdom." 

Several Lives of Constantine the Great have been written. The best is 
that of • 

25* 



586 ROME, [1500K v, 

Manso, J. C. F., Leben Constantins des Grossen. Breslau, 1817 ; 8vo. 

The student may also consult with advantage 

BuKKiiAKDT, J., Die Zeit Constantins des Grossen. Basel, 1853; royal 
8vo. 

The dealings of Constantine ,with the Christians and the ecclesiastical as- 
pect of his reign are best given in Dean Milman's History of Christianity 
(3 vols. 8vo, London, 1840), vol. ii. 

20. The designs of Constantine with resjoectto the succes- 
sion were not allowed to take full effect. Troubles follow- 
joint reign of ed close upon his decease, which led to the re- 
of c^ustau^"^ moval of Dalmatius and Hannibalianus, and the 
t"^^- murder of most of their near relations and parti- 

sans. The three sons of Constantine divided his dominions 
between them, Constantine retaining the portion assigned 
him by his father, viz., the Gauls, Constans receiving the 
share of Dalmatius besides his own, and Constantins absorb- 
ing the "kingdom" of Hannibalianus. But the brothers 
could not long remain at peace among themselves. Con- 
stantine, the eldest, discontented with his share, required 
Constans to relinquish to him the diocese of Africa, and 
when the latter demurred, invaded his territories and sought 
to compel the surrender. He had, however, miscalculated 
his strength, and was easily defeated and slain (a.d. 340). 
Constans took possession of his government, but, ruling ty- 
rannically, was, ten years later (a.d. 350), conspired against 
by his generals and ministers, one of whom, Magnentius, as- 
sumed the purjDle, captured and slew Constans, and reigned 
in his stead. Meanwhile, Constantins was engaged in an 
Rise and foil unsucccssful war against the Persians under their 
SsS."35o-' k^ii») Sapor, who aimed at recovering the prov- 
2^3- inces ceded to Galerius by his grandfather. Re- 

called by the dangerous condition of the West, where, be- 
sides Magnentius, another officer, Yetranio, general in Illyri- 
cum, had been proclaimed emperor, Constantins in the space 
of three years (a.d. 350 to 353) put down all opposition, forc- 
ing Vetranio to abdicate his dignity and retire into private 
life (a.d. 350), and driving Magnentius, after twice defeating 
him — at Mursa in Pannonia, a.d. 351, and at Mount Seleucus 
in Gaul, a.d. 353 — to take refuge in suicide. Constantins 
thus, in the sixteenth year after the death of liis fatlier Con- 
stantine, reunited under his sole rule the scattered fragments 
of the Roman world* 



PART I., PER. VI.] THE SONS OF CONSTANTINE. 587 

21. The sole reign of Constantius, which lasted from a.d. 
353 to 361, was a period of mixed disaster and success, ex- 
Soie reign of hausting to the empire, but not inglorious. His 
n.c^'SSi!' Tt>loody contest with Magnentius had greatly 
His wars. weakened the Roman military force, and exposed 
the empire almost without defense to the attacks of the bar- 
barians. German tribes had been actually encouraged by 
Constantius to cross the Rhine, and had planted themselves 
firmly on its left bank. The Quadi and Sarraatians ceased 
to respect the frontier of the Danube. In the East Sapor 
resumed his aggressive operations, and poured his hosts into 
tlie Roman province of Mesopotamia. But though the Ro- 
man arms sustained many reverses, especially in the East, 
and though the provinces suffered grievously from hostile 
inroads, yet on every side the honor of the empire was up- 
lield or^vindicated, and no permanent conquest of Roman 
territory was effected. Constantius repulsed the Quadi and 
attacked them in their own abodes, a.d. 357 ; set a king de- 
voted to his interests over the Sarmatse, a.d. 359 ; and pre- 
vented Sapor from occupying the regions w^hich he overran 
with his army, a.d. 360. In the West, the efforts of Julian 
were crowned with still more decided success. The Franks 
and Alemanni, defeated in a number of battles (a.d. 356 to 
358), evacuated their new conquests and retired to the right 
bank of the Rhine ; but even here the vengeance of the Ro- 
mans followed them. Julian led three expeditions across 
the great river, ravaged Germany far and wide, and returned 
into Gaul with a rich booty. 

22. In his relations with the princes of his family Constan- 
tius was peculiarly unhappy. At his accession, a.d. 337, he 
His treatment had Sanctioned, if he had not even commanded, 
GanasTnd Ju- ^hc massacre of his two surviving uncles and sev- 
1''^"- en of his cousins. Two cousins only, Gallus and 
Julian, boys of six and twelve respectively, he had spared. 
Having no male offspring, and having lost his two brothers,^ 
who died childless, it was only to these two princes that he 
could look, if he desired heirs of his own blood and lineage. 
Accordingly, when the troubles caused by Magnentius sum- 
moned him to the West, a.d. 350, he drew forth Gallus from 
the retirenient in which he bred him up, conferred upon him 
the title of " Caesar," and intrusted to him the administration 



588 HOME. [book v. 

of the East. But the ill-trained prince having grievously 
abused his trust, was in a.d. 354 summoned to appear before 
Constantius at Milan, and, when he obeyed, was seized while 
upon his journey, imprisoned and put to death. Shortly af- 
terwards (a.d. 355) Julian was, by the influence of the Em- 
press, Eusebia, advanced to the dignity made vacant by his 
half-brother's decease and invested with the government of 
the Gauls ; but the Emperor was from first to last jealous 
of his young kinsman and harsh in his treatment of him. 
At length, when he found himself about to be deprived of 
the troops who constituted his sole defense, Julian allowed 
his soldiers to proclaim him emperor (a.d. 360), and march- 
ed eastward to maintain his cause in arms. Another civil 
war would have followed had not Constantius 
opportunely died (a.d. 361) and left the throne 
open to his rival. * 

The persecution of the orthodox Christians by Constantius, and his en- 
couragement of Arianism, belong to ecclesiastical rather than to civil history. 
His reign is the time of "Athanasius contra mundum." 

23. Julian, the last prince of the house of Constantine, 

who succeeded to the undivided empire on the death of 

,^ ,. Constantius, was a man of unquestionable ability 

Reiguof Juh- I T 1 1 T ■■ 1 -, • 

an, A.D. 3G0- and 01 nearly blameless moral character ; but his 

363 . . . 

reign was a misfortune for the empire. A pagan 
from conviction, he not only restored Paganism to its old 
position as the established religion of the State, but endeav- 
ored to destroy Christianity by depriving its professors of 
the advantages of wealth, knowledge, and power, and perti- 
naciously directing against them every weapon of petty per- 
secution. The success of his enterprise, had it been possible, 
would have deeply injured the State, since it would have 
substituted a degraded morality and an effete religion for 
an ethical system in which even skeptics can find no fault, 
and a faith whose vitality is evidenced by its continuing to 
exist and to flourish at the present day. But success was 
wholly impossible; even a partial success could only have 
been gained at the expense of a prolonged civil war; and 
thus the sole result of the emperor's futile attempt was to 
cause a large amount of actual suffering, to exasperate the 
two parties against each other, and to prolong a struggle 
which could only end in one way. The religious counter- 



PART I., I'Eu. VI.] KEIGN OF JULIAN. 589 

revolution which he designed was altogether a mistake and 
an anachronism; and it was well for the empire that the 
brevity of liis reign confined the time of suffering and of 
struggle within narrow limits. 

24, Nor was the great military expedition which Julian 
undertook against the Persians more fortunate in its results 
His expedi- than his crusade against the faith of half liis sub- 
the"pSnl, jects. The end at which he aimed— the actual 
A.D.3C3. destruction of the Persian empire — was grand, 
and the plans which he formed for the accomplishment of 
his object were not ill-devised; but he had underrated the 
difficulty of his undertaking, and had counted too much on 
all his plans being carried out successfully. The allies on 
whose assistance he reckoned — Armenia and Liberia — failed 
him ; his second army, which had been directed to take the 
line of the Tigris and join him before Ctesiphon, never made 
its appearance ; he himself accomplished without disaster 
his march along the Euphrates and the Nahr-Malcha to the 
Persian capital, but he found his forces insufficient to under- 
take its siege, and after an imprudent delay he was compel- 
led, just as the heats of summer were coming on, to com- 
mence his retreat. But the multitudinous enemy hung 
about his rear, cut off his stragglers, deprived him of sup- 
plies, and even ventured, where the ground was favorable, 
to occupy and interrupt his line of march. ' Like the Ten 
Thousand Greeks (see p. 120) in their retreat through the 
same regions, the Roman army had day after day to fight 

TT- 1 ,-u its way. At length in one of these numerous 
His death. ^•'^ r- iT^ mi it 

combats Julian fell, ihe soldiers, forced to sup- 
ply his place, created the Christian, Jovian, emperor ; and 
Jovian procured himself a safe retreat from Persia with the 
remnant of Julian's army by relinquishing the provinces 
ceded to Galerius in a.d. 248 (see § 7), together with a por- 
tion of Mesopotamia. 

The best account of the Emperor Julian and his times is in the work of 
Neander, a., Ueber den Kaiser Julian und sein Zeitalter. Leipzig, 
1812; 8vo. 

25. The reign of Jovian lasted only a few months — from 
Reign of Jovi- J^^"®, A.D. 363, to February, a.d. 364 — but it was 
a^ A.D. 363- long enough to enable him to reverse his prede- 
cessor's religious changes, and restore Christian- 



590 KOME. [book v. 

ity to its former position. He conducted the army of Julian 
from the eastern bank of the Tigris to Ancyra in Phrygia, 
religiously performed the stipulations of his treaty with Sa- 
por, replaced Athanasius on his episcopal throne, and issued 
an edict of universal toleration. His death, February 17, 
A.D. 364, was sudden and mysterious, but is most probably 
to be ascribed to natural causes. 

26. An interregnum of ten days followed the death of 
Jovian. At its close the great officials of the empire took 
Joint reif^n of ^^P^^ thcmselvcs to nominate a monarch, and se- 
Vaientinran lectcd Valcnthiian, a Christian and a brave offi- 

and Valeus. , i t % . , t . . , , , 

vaieutinijin, ccr, who had scrved with distmction both on the 
Rhine and in Persia. The army ratified the 
choice, but required the new emperor to associate a col- 
league, being anxious (apparently) to prevent the recurrence 
of such a time of uncertainty and suspense as they had 
just experienced. Valentinian conferred the purple on his 
younger brother, Valens, and committed to his hands the 
administration of the "praefectura Orientis," reserving the 
rest of the erajDire for himself. He fixed his court at Milan, 
and from this centre, or sometimes from Treves, he governed 
with vigor and success, though not without occasional cruel- 
ty, the various provinces of the West. In person, or by his 
generals, he defeated the Picts and Scots in Britain, the Sax- 
ons in Northern Gaul, the Franks and Alemanni upon the 
Rhine, and the Quadi upon the Danube, everywhere main- 
taining the frontier and defending it by castles and ram- 
parts. He suppressed the revolt of Firmus in Africa, and 
re-established the Roman authority over Nuraidia and Mau- 
retania. As early as a.d. 367, he associated his son, Gratian, 
in the honors of the imperial dignity, but gave him no share 
in the government. He died at Bregetio, on the Danube, 
November 17, a.d. 375, when he had reigned between eleven 
and twelve years. 

27. Meanw^hile, the weaker Yalens in the East, cruel, timid, 
and governed by favorites, with difficulty maintained him- 
Vaiens,A.D. Self upon the throne wdiich he owed, not to his 
3G4-378. ^^^,jj merit, but to the affection or the jealousy of 
his brother. The insurrection of Procopius liad nearly 
brought his reign to an end in the year after his accession, 
A.D. 365, but was suppressed by tlie courage and devotion of 



rAiiT I., PER. VI.] JOVIAN TO GKATIAN. 591 

the brave and unselfish Salliist. War witli the Visigoths, 
who had embraced the cause of Procopius, followed, a.d. 367, 
and was concluded by a peace, a.d. 369, of which the barba- 
rians dictated the terras. A campaign against Sapor, a.d. 
3*71, had no result of importance. In the following year 
there was a conspiracy at Antioch which threatened the life 
of the Emperor. But the great event of the reign of Valens 
was the irruption of the Huns into Europe, and the conse- 
quent precipitation on the Koman Empire of the dispossess- 
ed Goths, who, received as suppliants and fugitives, were in 
a little while driven by ill-treatment to declare themselves 
enemies, and in the two battles of Marcianople and Adriano- 
ple proved their superiority over the Roman armies, defeat- 
ing first the generals of Valens, and then Valens himseirj 
who was slain at Adrianople, with two-thirds of his soldiers, 
A.D. 378. 

That the Huns weve Turanians from the steppes of Northern or Central 
Asia seems to be certain, but their exact race is a point which can never be 
settled. They were probably either Mongols, Turks, or Oigurs. Their iden- 
tity with the Hiong-nu, assumed by Gibbon, is disputable. Nothing is known 
of the causes which led to their migration ; but we have sufficient evidence 
of their appearance as a new nation, about a.d. 370, on the northern shores 
of the Black Sea, of their conquest of the Alani in the tract between the 
Wolga and the Don, and of their repeated victories over the Goths under 
Hermanric and his successor, Withimer. The Gothic kingdom of Herman- 
ric had extended from the Baltic to the Black Sea, comprising South-western 
Russia, Poland, and Eastern Prussia, and extending over various cognate 
tribes, of which the two most important were the Ostrogoths (Eastern Goths) 
and the Visigoths (Western Goths) in the tract between the Theiss and the 
Dnieper. Driven from their lands by the fluns, the Visigoths first, and the 
Ostrogoths after them, requested and obtained leave from the Romans to 
cross the Danube into Mcesia. The numbers of the Visigoths alone have 
been estimated at a million. The difficulty of feeding such a multitude, 
and perhaps acts of oppression and extortion on the part of the Roman 
officials, led to the armed outbreak in which Valens lost his life. The re- 
sult might have been different if he had waited for the forces of the West, 
which were marching to his aid at the time when he provoked an engage- 
ment. 

28. On the death of Valentinian, a.d. 375, he had been suc- 
ceeded by his son Gratian, a youth of seventeen, who imme- 
ReignofGra- diately associated in the government his brother, 
383"'vfUent&- Valentinian II., a boy of five. Gratian, the pupil 
Themiosius 1. ^^ ^^^^ Christian poet, Ausonius, was amiable but 
associated. weak. So long as the instructors of his youth 



592 ROME. [book v. 

maintained their authority over him, he conducted himself 
with credit and seemed to be an excellent ruler. Gaul was 
delivered from the Alemanni under his auspices by the vic- 
tory of Argentaria (a.d. 378); and the East, which the pre- 
cipitation of his uncle had prevented him from saving, was 
wisely placed under the superintendence of Theodosius, 
whom Gratian raised from a private station to be his col- 
league, A.D. 379. The prefecture of lUyricum was voluntari- 
ly ceded by the Western to the Eastern Emperor. But as 
advancing manhood emancipated Gratian from control, the 
natural softness and weakness of his character displayed it- 
self. Unworthy favorites obtained from him the direction 
of public aifairs, and cruelly abused his confidence. Hunt- 
ing became his passion; and the hours which should have 
been given to business were devoted to the pleasures and 
excitement of the chase. The army was neglected and re- 
sented its treatment ; the indolent emperor was despised ; 
in a short time revolt broke out. Maximus, a Roman settled 
in Britain, was invested with the purple by the British le- 
gions, and passed over into Gaul, with the intention of en- 
gaging Gratian. But the Gallic legions refused to fight; 
and Gratian, quitting Paris, where he held his court, fled to 
Lyons, and was there overtaken and slain, a.d. 383. 

29. Maximus, successful thus far, obtained an acknowledg- 
ment of his dignity from Theodosius, on condition of his ac- 

knowledging in his turn the title of Yalentinian 
imiis,A,D.383- IT., and leaving him in undisturbed possession of 
^^^' the Italian prefecture, which had been made over 

to him by his brother. But the ambition of the usurper in- 
duced him after a few years to break his engagement. In 
August, A.D. 387, he crossed the Alps, invaded Italy, and 
drove Valentinian to take refuge in the East. There the 
great Theodosius, after some hesitation, embraced the cause 
of his nephew, married his sister Galla, and, defeating Maxi- 
mus in Pannonia, a.d. 388, replaced the young Valentinian 
upon the throne. 

30. Valentinian II., who now at the age of eighteen be- 
came for the second time emperor, was amiable and weak, 
Second reign like his brother. He allowed a subject, Argo- 
iiTaSss?'^ bastes, a Frank by race, to obtain a position in 
^^'^- the kingdom similar to that occupied by the 



PART I., I'ER. VI.] MAXIMUS TO TIIEODOSIUS I. 593 

" mayors of the palace " under tlie Merovingian kings of 
France; and then, becoming aware of liis own want of au- 
thority, attempted to remove him, but in vain. Argobastes 
asserted his power, refused to lay down his office, and after 
a few days murdered his master, a.d. 392, and placed a crea- 
ture of his own, one Eugenius, upon the throne. 

31. The new emperor was not acknowledged by Tlieodo- 
sius, whose natural indignation at the contempt shown for 
Eci<-uofE ^^^^ arrangements was stimulated by the prayers 
{jtenms, a.i.. and tcars of his wife, Galla, the sister of the mur- 
dered monarch. After temporizing for some 

months, while he collected a formidable force, the Eastei-n 
emperor invaded the provinces of the West, defeating his 
rival by the help of his own troops near Aquileia, and caused 
his head to be struck from his shoulders, a.d. 394. The 
Frank, Argobastes, became a fugitive, and soon afterwards 
terminated his life by suicide. 

32. The reign of Theodosius in the East runs parallel with 
those of Gratian, Maximus, Valentinian II., and Eugenius 
Reign of The- in the Wcst, Commencing a.d. 379, in the fourtli 
Great"fiD.'^^ year of Gratian, and terminating a.d. 395, the 
subjects the^ y^^^' ^^^cr the death of Eugenius. It is a reign 
Goths. which surprises us by its wonderful vigor. Tlie- 
odosius truly deserved the name of "Great." By a combi- 
nation of patience and caution with vast military skill, he in 
the course of five years (a.d. 379 to 384) eifectually reduced 
the hordes of the Visigoths to subjection, converted them 
from enemies into subjects, and was able to use their swoi-ds 
against his other adversaries. It was no doubt an evil that 
these barbarians, and the Ostrogoths also, after their defeat 
in A.D. 386, were settled within the limits of the empire, in 
Moesia, Thrace, Illyricum, and Asia Minor ; since they wei-e 
not sufficiently civilized to amalgamate with the other sub- 
jects of the State. But Theodosius had only a choice of 
evils. If he had not given the barbarians settlements, he 
would have driven them to despair; and more was to be 
feared from their despair than even from their fickleness and 
turbulence. Theodosius himself kept the Goths quiet while 
he lived. He employed them with good effect against Max- 
imus and Eugenius. If his successors had had his talents, 
the new subjects of the empire might, very possibly, have 



594 ROME. [book v. 

been kept iinclcr control, and have become its strength m- 
steacl of proving its weakness. 

33. The vigor of Theodosius, which was employed with 
such good effect against the Goths, and against the usurpers 

who troubled the repose of the West, found an- 
tioijof'iiaga'us Other and more questionable vent in the regula- 
anci heretics, ^j^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^.^j^ ^^ j^.^ g^^^jects and in earnest 

and prolonged efforts to establish uniformity of religion. A 
qualified persecution of heathenism had .been sanctioned by 
some previous emperors. Theodosius broadly forbade all 
exercise of the chief rites of the old pagan religion under 
the extreme penalty of death ; shut up or destroyed the 
temples ; confiscated the old endowments ; and made every 
act of the worship penal. Towards heretics he acted with 
equal decision, but with somewhat less harshness. The Ari- 
ans and other sects condemned by the Councils of Nice (a.d. 
325) and Constantinople (a.d. 381) were compelled to relin- 
quish their churches, vacate their sees, and make over their 
endowments to the orthodox; they were forbidden to 
preach, to ordain ministers, and even to meet for public wor- 
ship ; but the penalty in case of disobedience rarely went 
beyond a fine or exile, and practically the penalties were 
very seldom enforced. The administration of Theodosius 
was very much less severe than his laws; and to judge him 
from his code alone would give a false idea of his character. 

34. Still Theodosius can not be wholly absolved fi-om the 
charge of violence and cruelty. His temper was capricious ; 
His clemency ^^<^, whilc upon somc occasions he exhibited an 
and severity, extraordinary degree of clemency and gentleness 
under extreme provocation, as when (in a.d. 387) he par- 
doned the insolence of Antiochenes,yet on others he allowed 
the fury which opposition awoke in him to have free course, 
and involved the innocent and the guilty in one sweeping 
sentence of punishment. The most notable example of this 
culpable severity is to be found in the famous massacre of 
the Thessalonians, for which he was comjDclled to do penance 
by St. Ambrose (a.d. 390). 

35. The victory of Theodosius over the usurper, Eugenius, 
a.d. 394, had made him master of the West, and reunited for 
Final division the last time the whole of the Roman Avorld un- 
of the empire, ^^y ^j^g sccptre of a single monarch. But the 



PART I., PER. VI.] DEATH OF THEODOSIUS. 595 

union did not last longer than a few months. It had come 
to be an accepted principle of the imperial policy that the 
weight of the internal administration, and the defense of the 
frontiers against the barbarians, was a burden beyond the 
powers of any single man. From the accession of Diocletian 
the Roman world had been governed, excepting on rare oc- 
casions, by a plurality of princes ; and it had been the usual 
practice to partition out the provinces among them. Theo- 
dosius, therefore, had no sooner defeated Eugenius, than he 
sent for his younger son. Honoring, a boy of eleven, and pre- 
pared to make over to him the Western Empire. Soon after- 
wards, finding his end approaching, he formally divided his 
dominions between his two sons, leaving the East to Arca- 
dius, the elder, and the West to Honorius, whom he jjlaced 
Theodosius's "nder the guardianship of the general Stilicho. 
death. ^ Theodosius expired at Milan in the fiftieth year 

of his age and the sixteenth of his reign, January 17, a.d. 
395. 

A Life of Theodosius was written in the seventeenth century by Flechier, 
bishop of Nismes (Paris, 1G79 ; 4to) ; but it can not be recommended to the 
student. A better idea of the time will be derived from the work of 

Mueller, P. E., De genio sceculi Theodosiani. Ilavni^e, 1798 ; 2 vols. 8vo. 

FOURTH SECTION. 

History of the Western Empire from the Accession of Honorius, A.D. 395, 
to the Deposition of Romulus Augustus, a.d. 476. 

Sources. For the reign of Honorius Zosoius is our chief authority ; but 
his prejudiced history must be supplemented and often corrected from the 
works of the poet Claudian (ed. Koxig, Gottinga^, 1808 ; 8vo), who is how- 
ever too eulogistic. Both for this and for the subsequent period, the Epitome 
of Orosius, and the Chronicles of Prosper and Marcellinus are of serv- 
ice. JoRNANDES, the Gotliic historian (see p. 567), rises 'in importance, as 
the history of the Goths becomes more and more closely intermixed with that 
of the Romans. The ecclesiastical historians, Socrates, Sozomen, Theod- 
ORET, etc., and the chronologers, Idatius, Isodorus, etc., have an occa- 
sional value. Other authors will be mentioned under particular heads. 

No modern writers of repute have specially treated this last and saddest 
period of the history of Rome. The student must consult Gibbon, chaps. 
xxix. to xxxviii., and Niebuhr, Lectures on the History of Rome, lectures 
cxxxv. to cxxxviii. He may also with advantage compare Milman, History 
of Latin Christianity (London, 1854 ; 5 vols. 8vo) ; books ii. and iii. 

1. Hitherto the East and West, if politically separate gov- 
ernments, had been united by sympathy, by the mutual 



596 ROME. [book v. 

Last period of lending and receiving of assistance, and by the 
Eraph^lfA.™ i(^ea^ at any rate, that in some sense they formed 
3'J5-47C. one empire. With Arcadius and Honorius this 

idea begins to fade and disappear ; relations of friendship 
between the governments are replaced by feelings of jeal- 
ousy, of mutual repulsion, of suspicion, distrust, and dislike. 
Hence the disruption of the empire is ordinarily dated from 
this time, though the separation was really so gradual that 
the historian acts somewhat arbitrarily in fixing on any 
definite point. There is, however, none better than the date 
commonly taken ; and, as the Eastern or Byzantine Empire 
belongs confessedly to Modern and not to Ancient History, 
the fortunes of the Western Empire will alone be followed 
in this concluding section of the history of Ancient Rome. 

2. The origin of the estrangement between tlie East and 
West appears to have been the mutual jealousy and conflict- 
Estrangement ing pretensions of Rufinus, the minister of the 
EasTauV^^ Eastern, and Stilicho, the general and guardian 
West. of ^}^g Western emperor. This jealousy cost 

Rufinus his life, and rendered the relations between the two 
states unsatisfactory. The ill-will was brought to a head, 
when the Goths of Moesia and Thrace, having revolted un- 
der Alaric, instead of being sternly repressed by the Eastern 
Invasions of ^™P<^i'or, were treated with and induced to re- 
the Goths un- movc to a region from which they threatened 
Italy. When Alaric was made by Arcadius 
master-general of the Eastern Illyricum, a.d. 398, it was felt 
at once that the West was menaced ; and the dreadful in- 
vasions which followed were ascribed, not without some 
show of reason, to the connivance of the Emperor of the 
East, who, to save his own territories, had let the Goths 
loose upon his brother's. The first invasion, in a.d. 402, car- 
ried devastation over the rich plains of Northern Italy, but 
was effectually checked by Stilicho, who completely defeat- 
ed Alaric in the battle of Pollentia (March 29, a.d. 403) and 
forced him to retire into Illyricum. The second invasion, 
a.d. 408, was more disastrous. The empire had lost the 
services of Stilicho, who had been sacrificed to the jealousy 
of an ungrateful master. Alaric marched upon Rome, and 
formed the siege of the city, but after some months consent- 
ed to spare it on the receipt of an enormous ransom, a.d. 409. 



PART I., PER. VI.] KEIGN OF IIONOUIUS. 507 

He then souglit to come to terms with Iloiiorius, who had 
fixed his court at Ravciiiia; but, being insulted during the 
negotiations, he broke them off, once more marched on 
Rome, starved the city into submission, and entered it as 
its master, a.d. 410. A puppet emperor was set up in the 
person of a certain Attains, who was however, after a few 
months, again degraded by Alaric to a private condition. 
The court of Ravenna still refusing the terms of peace 
which Alaric offered, he finally, in August, a.d. 410, resolved 
to push hostility to the utmost. Advancing a third time 
Sack of Rome, ^U^^" Rome, he took and sacked the city, overran 
A.u. 410. Southern Italy, and made himself master of the 

whole peninsula from the walls of Ravenna to the Sicilian 
sea. The Roman Empire of the West would probably have 
now come to an end, had not death overtaken the bold Goth 
in the midst of his conquests. His brother-in-law, Adolphus, 
who succeeded him, had neither his talents nor his ambition. 
After exhausting Southern Italy by plunder and ravage for 
the space of tw^o years, he made peace with Honorius, ac- 
cepted his sister, Placidia, in marriage, and withdrew his 
army from Italy into Gaul, a.d. 412. 

3. Nor w^ere the sack of Rome and the devastation of Ita- 
ly by the Goths the only calamities which afflicted the em- 
otherti-oub- P^^"^ during this miserable period. The invasion 
H^;, J"7^^^?^ of the combined Vandals, Suevi, Burojundians, and 

ofRhadagai- ., . ^ -r», -, • / ^ , . , 

SUP. Loss of Alani, under Rhadagaisus (a.d. 405), which car- 
proviuces. ^^^^^ ^^,^ ^^^^ swoi'd over the regions between the 
Alps and the Arno, would have been regarded as a misfor- 
tune of the first magnitude, if it had not been thrown into 
the shade by the more terrible visitation of the Goths. Stil- 
icho, indeed, with consummate generalship, defeated this 
formidable host, slew Rhadagaisus, and forced the remainder 
of his army to retire. Italy, after suffering riwage through 
its whole extent from the wild and savage hordes of Sarma- 
tia and Germany, was by the year a.d. 412 cleared of all its 
invaders, and was once more ruled in peace by the son of 
Theodosius. But, if no worse calamity than utter exhaust- 
ion was inflicted on the centre of the empire, a sadder fate 
began to overtake the extremities, fi-om which Rome with- 
drew her protection, or which were torn from her by the 
barbarians. The remnant of the host of Rhadagaisus, Van- 



598 HOME. [hook v. 

dais, Burgundians, and others, after quitting Italy, passed 
into Gaul (a.d. 406), overran the region between the Rhine 
and the Pyrenees, and took possession of a broad tract which 
became known as " Burgundy." Passing thence into Spain, 
they carried all before them, spreading themselves over the 
entire peninsula from the Pyrenees to the straits of Gibral- 
tar. In Southern Gaul and Spain they w^ere shortly follow- 
ed by the Goths, who, under Adolphus, crossed the mount- 
ains, drove the Vandals into Gallicia and B?etica (thence 
called Vandalusia or Andalusia), and established in Spain 
and Aquitaine the " Kingdom of the Visigoths," which, al- 
though for a time (a.d. 414 to 418) nominally subject to 
Rome, became under Theodoric I. (a.d. 418) completely in- 
dependent. About the same time Britain was finally cut 
adrift from the empire. In Gaul the Franks followed the 
(. xample of the Burgundians, and, crossing the Lower Rhine, 
established themselves in the region about Cologne and 
Treves. Thus almost the whole of the prefectura Galliarum 
passed out of the hands of the Romans, who retained noth- 
ing w^est of the Alps but the province of Gallia Lugdunensis. 
4. It is not surprising that during this troublous period 
Honorius found his right to the throne disputed by pretend- 
Kevoitsaiid ^rs. Besides Attains (see § 2), there arose in Af- 
usuipatious. j.j(3r^ r^ Moorish usurper, named Gildo, who as-. 
sumed the government of the "Five Provinces," a.d. 398, 
but was defeated by the Romans under Mascezel, Gildo's 
brother. In Britain a Constantine was proclaimed emperoi', 
A.D. 40V, who associated on the throne his son, Constans, and 
extended his dominion at one time (a.d. 408 to 409) over the 
greater portion of Gaul and Spain ; but after the revolt of 
his general, Gerontius, in the last-named province, he was de- 
feated and put to death by Constantius, one of Honorius's 
commanders^ a.d. 411. A second revolt occurred in Africa 
under Gount Heraclian, a.d. 413. Assuming the purple, he 
ventured to invade Italy, but was defeated in the neighbor- 
hood of Rome, and, on returning to his province, was put to 
death by his indignant subjects. After the death of Con- 
stantine, the sovereignty of Roman Gaul was assumed by 
Jovinus, a.d. 412, who associated on the throne his brother, 
Sebastian ; but these usurpers were easily put down by the 
Gothic leader, Adolphus, a.d. 413. The latter years of Ho- 



PAKT I., VEIL VI.] II0N0KIL6 TO VALENTINIAN III. 599 

norius (a.d. 413 to 423) were free from troubles of this kind. 
The weak prince strengthened liimself by marrying his sis- 
ter, Placidia, the widow of the Gothic chief, Adolphus, to 
Constantius, his successful general, and associating the latter 
in the government, a.d. 421. Constantius, however, reigned 
only seven months, and he was soon followed to the tomb 
by his unhappy colleague, who died of a dropsy, August 27, 
A.D. 423, Avithout making any arrangements for the succes- 
sion. 

5. The vacant throne was seized by John, principal secre- 
tary of the late emperor; but Theodosius II., who had suc- 
Reignofjohu ceeded his father, Arcadius, in the Empire of the 
fyf" A^D.^423-" East, refused to acknowledge the usurper, and 
^-^' claimed the throne for his infant nephew, Valen- 
tinian, the son of Constantius and Placidia. A naval and 
military expedition, which he sent to Italy, was at first un- 
successful ; but, after a while, signs of disaffection appeared 
among the Italian soldiers, who preferred a monarch de- 
scended from the great Theodosius to an unknown upstart. 
Treachery opened the gates of Ravenna to the Eastern 
army, and John, delivered into the hands of his enemies, was 
beheaded at Aquileia, a.d. 425. 

6. The nephew of Honorius, who was now raised to the 
throne, was a child of no more than six years of age. He 

„, , Avas therefore placed under the sjuardianship of 
entinian III., his mother, Placidia, who administered the em- 
pire from A.D. 425 to 450. The government of 
an infant and a woman was ill suited for a kingdom placed 
in desperate circumstances, and precipitated the ruin which 
had long been visibly impending. The jealousy felt by the 
general Aetius towards Boniface, Count of Africa, and the 
unworthy treatment of the latter, drove him into rebellion, 
induced him to invite over the Vandals from Spain, a.d. 428, 
and led to the loss of the African diocese, and the establish- 
ment of a Vandal kingdom in that region by the renowned 
Gexseric, a.d. 429 to 439. Family arrangements connected 
with the betrothment of Valentinian to Eudoxia, daughter 
of Theodosius II., had even before this (a.d. 425) detached 
from the West and made over to the East the provinces of 
Pannonia, Noricum, and Dalmatia. Excepting for some pre- 
carious possessions in Gaul and Spain, the Western Empire 



600 ROME. [book v. 

was now confined to the three countries of Vindelicia, Rhae- 
tia, and Italy. The sword of Aetius mamtained with tolera- 
ble success the dimensions of Roman Gaul against the at- 
tacks, from opposite sides, of the Visigoths and the Franks, 
A.D. 435 to 450 ; but his contest with the latter brought into 
the field a new foe, the terrible Attila, king of the Huns, 
Avho, professing to embrace the cause of a fugitive Frankish 
kinjx, crossed the Rhine into Gaul at the head of a vast 
army, and spread devastation far and wide over the coun- 
try. The Romans and Visigoths were forced into a tempo- 
rary alliance, and united their arms against the Scyth. On 
the field of Chalons the question was tried and determined 
(a.d. 451), whether the predominance of power in Western 
Europe w^as to fall to the Tatars or to the Teutons, to a sav- 
age race, heathen, anarchical, and destructive, or to one 
^vhich had embraced Christianity, which had aptitudes for 
oi-ganization and law, and could construct as well as destroy. 
The decision was, fortunately, in favor of the Teutons. At- 
tila retreated beyond the Rhine ; and although in a.d. 452 
lie endeavored to retrieve his failure, invading Italy, and 
spreading desolation over the whole plain of the Po, yet it 
was only to retreat once more to his palace in the wilds of 
Hungary. The year following, a.d. 453, he burst a blood- 
vessel, and died suddenly ; and the* West w^as delivered 
from all peril of becoming the prey of Tatar hordes. Two 
years later, Valentinian also lost his life, being murdered, 
A.D. 455, by Maximus, whose wife he had dishonored, and the 
retainers of Aetius, whom, on grounds of suspicion, he had 
executed. 

The history of Attila has engaged the pens of several able writers. Among 
them may be noticed 

Mueller, J., Attila, der Held desfunften Jahrhunderts. Leipzig, 1806 ; 
8vo. 

Klemm, G. F., Attila nach der Geschichte, Sage, und Legende dargestellt. 
Berlin, 1827 ; 8vo. 

Herbert, Dean, Attila, King of the Huns: a Poem. London, 1838; 
8vo. The Notes to this work are elal)orate and highly valuable. 

V. Maximus, the murderer of Valentinian III., succeeded him 
EeignofMax- as emperor, but reigned less than three months 
moJ^nfi^ (March 16 to June^ 12, a.d. 455). Anxious to 
A.t). 455. strengthen his hold upon the throne by connect- 



PAKT I., PEK. VI.] MAXIMUM TO MAJORIAN. 601 

ing himself with the royal house of Theodosins, he married 
his son, Palladiiis, to the daughter of Yalentiniaii, and forced 
Eudoxia, Valentinian's widow, and daughter of Theodosius 
II., to become his wife. The outraged matron implored the 
aid of Genseric, whose fleet commanded the Mediterranean ; 
and the bold Vandal, greedy after the spoil of Italy, readily 
responded to her call. His landing at Ostia was the signal 
for the Romans to rise against their sovereign, in whom they 
saw the author of their calamities ; but the murder of the 
Roman emperor failed to propitiate the Vandalic king, 
^ , whose mind was intent upon plunder. Despite 

deied by Gen- the intercession 01 r^ope Leo, Grenseric entered 
Rome with his troops, and gave it up to them to 
pillage for fourteen days. Whatever Attila had left was 
now carried off. Eudoxia and her two daughters were 
made prisoners and borne away to Carthage. Even the 
churches were not spared. All that yet remained in Rome 
of public or private wealth, of sacred or profane treasure, 
was transported to the vessels of Genseric, and removed to 
Africa. 

8. This terrible calamity so paralyzed the Romans, that 
they appointed no emperor in the place of Maximus. When, 

. however, the news that the throne was vacant 
tus,A.D.456- reached Gaul, Avitus, the commander of the le^ 
gions there, induced his soldiers to proclaim him ; 
and, as he was supported by the Visigoths of Western Gaul 
and Spain, Rome and Italy for a brief space acknowledged 
him as their sovereign. But Italian pride chafed against the 
imposition of a monarch from w^ithout ; and Count Ricimer, 
a Goth, who commanded the foreign troops in the pay of 
Rome, disliked the rule of an emperor in wiiose appointment 
he had had no hand. Avitus was therefore required to ab- 
dicate, after he had held the throne a little more than a year ; 
lie consented, and, laying aside the imperial office, became 
Bishop of Placentia, but died within a few months of his ab- 
dication, whether by disease or violence is uncertain. 

9. It was evidently the wish of Count Ricimer to assume 
the crown which he had forced Avitus to resign ; but he 
Interregnum, saw that Rome was not yet prepared to submit 
SrSfn, A.^'" herself to the rule of a barbarian, and he there- 
45T-461. fore, after an interval of six months, placed an 

26 



G02 ROME. [book v% 

emperor on the throne in the person of Majorian, who ruled 
well for four years, from a.d. 457 to 461. Majorian, who 
was a man of talent and character, addressed himself espe- 
cially to the struggle with the Vandals of Africa, whose con- 
stant depredations deprived Italy of repose. Not content 
with chastising the disorderly bands which ravaged his 
coasts, he prepared to invade the territory of Genseric with 
a fleet and army. These were collected at the Spanish 
port of Carthagena ; but the emissaries of Genseric secretly 
destroyed the fleet ; and Majorian, having returned to Italy, 
was, like Avitus, forced to abdicate. Count Ricimer being 
jealous of his jt9?^o/e^e, and desirous of appointing an emperor 
of inferior ability. 

10. The imperial title and ensigns were now conferred on 
a puppet named Severus, who served as a convenient screen, 
RuieofKici- behind which Count Ricimer concealed the au- 
46t!' Severus thority which he himself really wielded. But 
Em"eror?rora ^^^^^'^^ flying at the end of four years, a.d. 465, 
A.D. 461-465. Ricimer at length felt himself sufticiently strong 
to take openly the sole and entire direction of the aflairs of 
Italy. He respected Roman prejudices, however, so far as 
to abstain from the assumption of the imperial name. His 
position was a difficult one, for the Emperor of the East 
looked coldly on him, Avhile he was exposed to constant at- 
tack from the powerful fleets of Genseric and Marcellinus, 
the sovereigns of Africa and Dalmatia, and had further to 
fear the hostility of ^gidius, Roman commander in Gaul, 
who refused to acknowledge his authority. The peril of his 
situation compelled him, two years after the death of Seve- 
rus, A.D. 467, to apply for aid to the Eastern emperor, Leo, 
and to accept the terms on which that prince was Avilling to 
succor him. The terms Avere galling to his pride. Italy 
was required by Leo to submit to a sovereign of his choice, 
which fell on Anthemius, a Byzantine nobleman of distinc- 
tion. 

11. The establishment of Anthemius as "Emperor of the 
West " was followed by a serious effort against the terrible 
Reio-nofAn- ^^i^dals, who were now the enemy from whom 
themhis, A.D. Ralv Suffered the most. Alliance was made be- 

467-472. "^ 

tween Leo, Anthemius, and Marcellinus ; and 
while the Dalmatian fleet jirotected Italy and retook Sar- 



PART I., PKK. VI.] MAJORIAN TO AUGUSTULUS. 603 

dinia, two great expeditions were directed by the Eastern 
emperor npon Carthage, a.d. 468. One of these, starting 
from Egypt, attacked Tripoli, surprised the cities of that 
province, and proceeded along the coast westward. The 
other, which consisted of 1113 ships, having on board 100,000 
men, was directed npon Cape Bona, about forty miles from 
Carthage, and should at once have laid siege to the town. 
But Basiliscus, the commander, allowed himself to be amused 
by negotiations while the cunning Genseric made prepara- 
tions for the destruction of the fleet, which he accomplished 
by means of fire-ships, thus entirely frustrating the attack. 
The remnant of the expedition withdrew ; Genseric recover- 
ed Sardinia, and shortly afterwards established his power 
over Sicily, thus obtaining a position from which he men- 
aced Italy more than ever before. But the " Empire," as it 
was still called, was to be subverted, not by its external, 
but its internal foes. Though Ricimer had consented to the 
nomination of Anthemius as emperor, and had bound him- 
self to his cause by accepting his daughter in marriage, yet it 
was not long before discord and jealousy separated the pro- 
fessed friends. As Anthemius had fixed his court at Rome, 
Ricimer retired to Milan, Avhence he could readily corre- 
spond with the barbarians of Spain, Gaul, and Pannonia. 
Having collected a considerable army, he marched to the 
gates of Rome, proclaimed Olybrius, the husband of Placidia 
(youngest daughter of Valentinian III.), emperor, and, forc- 
ing his way into the city, slew Anthemius, and established 
Olybrius upon the throne (July 11, a.d. 472). 

12. The Western Empire had now, in the space of sixteen 
years, experienced the rule of six difi*erent sovereigns. In 
Reigns of oiy- the four ycars of continued existence which still 
us! Neporand I'^maiucd to it, four other " emperors " were about 
SS'^Ib"' to hold the sceptre. The first of these, Olybrius, 
472-476. retained his authority for little more than three 

months, ascending the throne, July 11, and dying by a natu- 
ral death, October 23. The chief event of his reign was the 
death of Count Ricimer, who expired forty days after his 
capture of Rome, August 20, leaving the command of his 
army to his nephew, Gundobald, a Burgundian. Gundobald 
gave the purple, in a.d. 473, to Glycerins, an obscure soldier; 
but the Eastern emperor, Leo, interposed for the second time, 



004 ROME. [book v. 

and assigned the throne to Julius Nepos, tlie nephew of Mar- 
cellinus, and liis successor in the sovereignty of Dahnatia. 
Nepos easily prevailed over Glycerins, Avho exchanged his 
imperial dignity, a.d. 474, for the bishopric of Salona; but 
the new emperor was scarcely settled upon the throne, when 
the barbarian mercenaries, who were noAV all-powerful in 
Italy, revolted under the patrician Orestes, a.d. 475, and in- 
vested with the purple his son, Romulus Augustus, called, 
by way of contempt, "Augustulus." Augustulus, the last of 
the Western emperors, reigned less than a year (Octobei* 31, 
A.D. 475 to August 23, a.d. 476). The mercenaries, shortly 
after his accession, demanded one-third of the lands of Italy, 
and, when their demand was refused, took arms under the 
command of their German chief, Odoacer, slew Orestes, the 
Emperor's father, and deprived Augustulus of his sovereign- 
ty. The dignity of Emperor of the West was then formally 
abolished ; and Odoacer ascended the throne as the first bar- 
barian " King of Italy." 

13. The history of the Western Roman Empire here ter- 
minates. The Empire had endured 507 years (b.c. 31 to a.d. 
Duration of ^''^)i ^^^^^^' sevcnty-scven princes. Attaining its 
uie Empire, greatest magnitude in the reign of Trajan, when 
decline and it extended from the Pillars of Hercules and the 
Friths of Forth and Clyde to the Caspian and the 
Persian Gulf, it had gradually broken up and contracted its 
limits, until it had come to be almost confined to Italy. Its 
ruin had been caused partly by internal decay, but mainly 
through the repeated invasions of vast hordes of barbarians. 
Goths, Vandals, Huns, Burgundians, Suevi, Alani, Alemauni, 
Franks, Heruli had precipitated themselves in a ceaseless 
succession on the regions which Roman civilization had 
turned into gardens, and poured in a resistless torrent over 
province after province. The force of the attack fell mainly 
upon the AYest. After the first rush of the Goths across the 
Lower Danube, in the time of Yalens, the tide of migration 
took wholly a westerly course. Pannonia, Spain, Africa, 
most of Gaul, were occupied by the invaders. Italy attract- 
ed each more powerful spoiler, and host after host desolated 
its fertile plains. Rome herself was taken repeatedly, and 
was sacked twice, by Alaric and by Genserio. She felt that 
she needed all her resources for her own defense, and was 



PAKT II.] PARTHIA. 605 

therefore obliged to relinquish such outlying provinces as no 
foe had captured. Hence, Britain, parts of Gaul, Vindelicia, 
and probably Kha3tia, were abandoned : Pannonia, Noricum, 
and Dalmatia were parted with ; at. last, nothing remained 
but Italy; and Italy could not undertake to defend herself. 
Her rulers had long ceased to put any trust m Italian sol- 
diers, and had drawn their recruits from the outlying prov- 
inces rather than from the heart of the empire. Finally, 
they had thought it excellent strategy to take the barba- 
rians themselves into pay, and to fight Huns wath GothSj 
and Goths with Burgundians or Vandals. But this policy at 
last proved fatal. The barbarians, perceiving their strength, 
determined to exert it, and to have Iti^ly for themselves. It 
was more pleasant to be masters than servants. The impe- 
rial power had in fact been long existing upon sufferance; 
the edifice was without due support, and it only needed the 
touch of a finger to make it fall. What Odoacer did, Rici- 
mer might have done with as much ease ; but the facility of 
an enterprise is not always apparent beforehand. 



PART II. HISTORY OF PARTHIA. 

Geographical Outline of the Parthian Empire. 

1. The Parthian Empire at its greatest extent comprised 
the countries between the Euphrates and the Indus, reach- 
Extent of the ing northward as far as the Araxes, the Caspian, 
empire. c^^^ ^^ Lower Oxus, and southward to the Per- 

sian Gulf 'and the Indian Ocean. It thus covered, in the 
main, the same ground with the Persian empire of Cyrus 
and with the original kingdom of the Seleucidae; but it w^as 
less extensive than either of those great monarchies. It did 
not include Syria, or Phoenicia, or Palestine, or Armenia, or 
any portion of Asia Minor, nor does it seera to have com- 
prised the valley of the Upper Oxus, much less that of the 
Jaxartes. Its greatest length, between the Euphrates and 
the Indus, may be estimated at about one thousand nine 
hundred miles, while its greatest width, between the Lower 
Oxus and the Indian Ocean, may have equalled, or a little 



GOG rAKTllIA. [book v. 

exceeded, a thousand miles. Its area can not have fallen 
much short of a million square miles. 

2. But of this vast sjDace a very large proportion was 
scarcely habitable. The Mesopotamian, Persian, Kharesmi- 
. an, Gedrosian, and Carmanian deserts occupy at 

Large area oc- ' ' . ^-^ 

ciipied by des- least one-half of the region between the Euphra- 
tes and the Indus ; and, though not absolutely 
incapable of supporting human life, these tracts can at the 
best sustain a very sj^arse and scanty population. Such pos- 
sessions add but little to the strength of the empire which 
comprises them, and thus may be omitted froiu consideration 
when we seek to form an estimate of its power and resources. 
About half a million square miles remain when we have de- 
ducted the deserts ; an area only one-third of that of Rome 
(see p. 503), but still very much larger than that of any mod- 
ern European state excepting Russia. 

3. The Parthian Empire was, like most others, divided into 
provinces. Of these the most imj)ortant were, in the west. 
Division iuto Mesopotamia and Babylonia; in the mid-region, 
provinces. Atropatcne, Media, Assyria, Susiana, and Persia ; 
towards the east, Parthyene or Parthia Proper, Hyrcanift, 
Margiana, Aria, Zarangia, Carmania, Sacastane, Arachosia, 
and Gedrosia. Other minor divisions were Chalonitis, Cam- 
badene, Mesene, Rhagiana, Choarene, Comisene, Artacene, 
Apavarcticene, etc. It will be observed that the main prov- 
inces were for the most part identical, in name at any rate, 
with provinces of the old Persian Empire, already described 
in this work (see pp. 30-35). As, however, even in prov- 
inces of this class certain changes have often to be noted in 
respect of boundaries, or principal towns, it seems best to 
run briefly through the entire list. 

i. Meso2yotamia. The name of Mesopotamia was applied 

by the Parthians, not to the whole region between the Tigris 

^ . and Euphrates rivers, but only to the upper por- 

Mesopotamia. . ^t , , ^ ^ *' , i i , 

tion 01 it — the tract bounded on the north by the 
Mons Masius, and on the south by a canal uniting the two 
streams a little above the 33d parallel. Its chief cities were 
Anthemusia, Nicephorium, Carrhse, Europus, Nisibis, and 
Hatra. 

ii. Babylonia lay below Mesopotamia, extending to the 
confluence of the Euphrates and Tigris, and including a tract 



TAKT II.] GEOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE. 607 

Bab lonii. ^^ considerable size and importance on the right 
bank of the former river. Its chief towns were 
Seleuceia on the Tigris, Babylon, Borsippa, and Vologesia. 

iii. 3Iestne, called also Characene, Avas the tract below 
Babylonia, reaching to the shores of the Persian Gulf. Its 
. capital was Charax Si)asini, at the confluence, 

probably, of the Kuran with the Euphrates. The 
only other city of any importance was Teredon or Diridotis, 
on the Gulf, at the mouth of the EujDhrates. Mesene was fa- 
mous for its thick groves of palm-trees. 

iv. Susiana had nearly its old boundaries and dimensions 
(see p. 34). Its chief cities were Susa and Badaca. 

V. Assyria^ according to the nomenclature of the Parthian 
period, designated a tract which lay wholly to the east of 

the Tio'ris, extendino; from Armenia on the north 
Assyria. a • ^ ^ i t • i i 

to feusiana on the south, and interposed between 
Mesopotamia and Media Magna. It was divided into nu- 
merous districts, among which the most important were Cor- 
dyene (the country of the Kurds) in the north, Adiabene, the 
tract about the two Zab rivers, Arbelitis, the region about 
Arbela, Chalonitis, the country about Holwan, and Apolloni- 
atis or Sittacene, the tract upon the lower course of the Di- 
yaleh river. In this district was situated Ctesiphon, the cap- 
ital of the whole empire. Other important towns were Ar- 
bela, the capital of Arbelitis, Apollonia, the old capital of 
Apolloniatis, and Artemita, in the same region, which be- 
came under the Parthian s, Chalasar. 

vi. Atropatene lay between the northern part of Assyria 
(Cordyene) and the western shore of the Caspian, thus cor- 
responding nearly to the modern Azerbijan. Its 

ropa ene. ^j^jg^" ^-^^ ^^^^ Gaza or Gazaca (afterwards Can- 
zaca), now TaJikt-i- Suleiman. Atropatene was not so abso- 
lutely a part of the Parthian Empire as most of the other 
provinces. It was a fief over w'hich the Parthian monarch 
claimed a sort of feudal supremacy; but was governed by 
its own princes, who were sometimes not even appointed by 
the Parthian king. 

vii. Media lay south and south-east of Atropatene, extend- 
ing from the Kizil Uzen and the Caspian on the north, to 

Media ^bout the 32d parallel towards the south, where 
it adjoined on Susiana and Persia. It 'contained 



COS rAKTIIIA. [book v. 

several districts, of which the chief were Media Inferior, Me- 
dia Superior, Cambadene, and Rhagiaiia. The chief towns 
were Ecbatana (now Haniadan), Bagistana (Behistun), Con- 
cobar (Kungawur), Aspadana (Isfahan), Rhages or Europus 
(Kaleh Erij), and Charax. 

viii. Persia, like Susiana, retained its old dimensions and 

boundaries, except that it had ceased to be regarded as com- 

Persia pi'ising Carmania, which was reckoned a distinct 

country. After the destruction of Persepolis by 

Alexander, Pasargadse seems to have been the chief city. 

ix. Carmania adjoined Persia upon the east. It extended 

from the Persian Gulf to about the 33d parallel, 

thus mcludnig a large portion oi the desert oi 

Iran. The chief town was Carmana (now Kerman). 

x. Parthyene, or Parthia Proper, lay north of Carmania 
and west of Media Magna. It comprised the old country of 
^ ^, . the name, too-ether with most of the desert which 
in early times was known as Sagartia. (See p. 
31.) Among its subdivisions were Choarene, Comisene, Ar- 
tacene, Tabiene, etc. The capital city was Hecatompylus. 
Other important towns were Apameia in Choarene, near the 
Caspian Gates, and Parthaunisa, or Nisaea (Nishapur). 

xi. Hyrcania was north of Parthia, being the tract at the 

south-eastern corner of the Caspian, along the course of the 

; . river Gurgan. Its chief cities were Syrinx, Tape, 

on the shore of the Caspian, Carta (perhaps the 

earlier Zadracarta), Talabroce, and Samariane. 

xii. Margiana was situated east and north-east of Parthia 

and Hyrcania, in the low plain betw^een the Elburz range 

* . and the Sea of Aral. It lay along the course of 

the river Margus (now the Murg-ab). The only 

city in Parthian times was Antiocheia (Merv ?). 

xiii. Aria included the district which bore the same name 
under the Persians (see p. 32), but comprised also the tract 
. between Herat and the Hamoon or Sea of Seis- 

tan. Its chief city was Artacoana (Herat). Oth- 
er towns of some consequence were Phra (Furrah),Gari (Gi- 
risk), and Bis (Bist). 

xiv. Zarangia, or Drangiana, had come to be used in a 

narrower accei:)tation than the ancient one. (See 

aiaugia. .^^ g^;^ j^ ^^^g j-^q^^ q^\j c^ small tract close upon 



PART II., PER. I.] SOURCES OF THE HISTORY. 609 

the Hamoon, the district upon the Haroot-rud and Furrah- 
rud being reckoned to Aria, and that on the Lower Helmend 
being se'parated off, and foraiing the new province of Sacas- 
tane? The chief town of Zarangia was Prophthasia. 

XV. Sacastcme lay south of Zarangia, corresponding to the 
Segestan of the Arabian geographers, which is now known as 
Seistan. Its chief cities were Sigal and Alexan- 
sacastan6. ^^^^^^j^^ Sacastane (i. e., the land of Sac^) had 
probably been occupied by a colony of Scyths in the inter- 
val between Alexander's conquests and the formation of the 
Parthian Empire. 

xvi. Arachosia (or "White India," as the Parthians called 
it) seems to have been identical with the country known by 
the same name to the Persians. (See p. 32.) It 
Arachosia. ^^^ ^^^^ ^^ Sacastane, and corresponded nearly 
with the modern Kandahar, The capital was Alexandropo- 
lis, on the Arachotus (Arghand-ab). Its other chief cities 
were Demetrias, Pharsana, and Parabeste. 

xvii. Gedrosia retained in the main its ancient limits, 

which were nearly those of the modern Beluchistan (see p. 

32). It was, however, perhaps somewhat en- 

Gedrosia. cj.(jached upon towards the north by Sacastane. 

The province lay south of this tract and of Arachosia and 

east of Carmania. 

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE PARTHIAN 
EMPIRE. 

FIRST PERIOD. 

From the Foundation of the Kingdom, about B.C. 255, to the Creation of the 
Empire by Mithridates or Arsaces VI., about B.C. 174. 

Sources. The sources for the history of Parthia are scanty and scattered. 
Of native sources, we possess only a very incomplete series of coins, generally 
without dates and without the special name of the king ; and a few mutilated 
inscriptions. No classical author, so far as we know, ever treated of the 
history of Parthia as a whole ; and few ever made Parthian history, in any 
of its portions, even a special subject of attention. Arrian's Parthica was 
a mere account of the Parthian War of Trajan, written from a Roman point 
of view ; and of this work there only remain about twenty short fragments. 
(See the fragments collected in C. Mtjller's Fragmenta Hist. Gracorum, 
vol. iii., pp. 586-591.) Strabo's account of the Parthian manners and cus- 
toms in the sixth book of his Historical Memoirs, and the second book of his 

26* 



610 PAKTHIA. [book v. 

Continuation of Pohjhius, would liave been most interesting ; but these works 
have wholly perished. The extant writer who tells us most about the Par- 
thians is Justin ; but this careless historian has most imperfectly reported 
his authority, Trogus Pompeius, and needs pei^petual correction. For the 
earlier history we are reduced to scattered notices in Strabo, Arrian, Jus- 
tin, PoLYBius, LuciAN, and Phlegon of Tralles ; for the middle portion, 
from the time of Phraates III. to Vonones I., we have Appian in his Mithri- 
datica and Syriaca, Justin, Plutarch in his Lives of Lucullus, Pompey, 
Crassus, and Antony, Josephus in his Antiquitates Judaicce, and Dio Cas- 
sius (bks. XXXV., Iv.) ; for the later history, from Vonones to the destruction 
of the monarchy, our authorities are Tacitus in his Annals, Josephus, Sui:- 
tonius, Herodian, the Historice Augustce Scriptores, and, above all, Dig 
(bks. Ivi.-lxxviii.), 

Modern works treating specially on the subject of Parthian history are not 
very numerous. The best are the following : 

Foy-Vaillant, J., Arsacidarum Imperium, sive Regum Parthorum Histo- 
ria adjidem numismatum accommodata. Parisiis, 1725 ; 4to. 

Du Pour de Longuerue, Annates Arsacidarum. Argentorat., 1732; 
4to. 

Richter, C. F,, Historisch-kritischer Versuch uher die Arsaciden und Sas- 
saniden-Dynastien. Gottingen, 1804 ; 8vo. 

Tychsen, T. C, Commentationes de nummis Persarum et Arsacidarum, 
published in the Commentationes novce Societat. Scient. Gotting., vols. i. 
and iii. 

Abstracts of the history are given in Dr. Smith's Dictionary of Greek and 
Roman Biography, sub voc. Arsacid^, and by Mr. Clinton in his Fasti 
Romani. Oxford, 1845-50 ; 2 vols. 4to. (See vol. ii. pp. 243-250.) 

1. Parthia, which, ill the earlier times of the Persian mon- 
archy, formed a portion only of a large satrapy extending 
d f nof ^^'^"^ ^^^^ Iranic desert to the Jaxartes, and from 
the kingdom the Caspian to Samarcand, appears towards the 
close of the Persian period to have constituted a 
satrapy by itself (or with the mere addition of Hyrcania),in 
which condition it was continued by the successors of Alex- 
ander. Tranquillity was preserved till about b.c. 255, when 
the weakness of Antiochus Theus, and the success of the 
Bactrian rebellion (see p. 342), encouraged the Parthians to 
rise against their Greek masters, and to declare themselves 
an independent people. Their leader in the revolt was a 
certain Arsaces. This person was the commander of a body 
of Scythian Dahae from the banks of the Ochus, who mi- 
grated into Parthia, and obtaining the ascendency in the 
country, raised tlieir general to the position of king. There 
was, probably, sufficient affinity between the immigrant Da- 
hae and the previous-inhabitants of the region for the two 



PART II., PER. I.] EARLY IQNGS. 611 

races readily to coalesce ; both appear to have been Tura- 
nian ; and the Dahae were so completely absorbed that we 
hear nothing of them, in the subsequent history. The names 
of'-'Parthia" and "Parthian" prevailed; and the whole na- 
tion presents to us one uniform type. 

2. This type is one of a low and coarse character. The 
manners of the Parthians, even at the height of their power, 
Character of ^^^ ^ tinge of Tatar barbarism. Their mimetic 
the people. art was rude, compared, not only Avith that of 
the Greeks, but even of the Persians. In their architecture 
they imitated the heavy and massive constructions of the 
Babylonians. Their appearance was repulsive. They were 
treacherous in war, indolent and unrefined in peace. Still 
they possessed qualities which fitted them to become a rul- 
ing nation. They were brave, enterprising, and fond of war; 
while they had also a certain talent for organization and ad- 
ministration. They are not ill-represented by the modern 
Turks, who are allied to them in race, and rule over some of 
the same countries. 

• 3. Arsaces, the first king, reigned, we are told, only two 
years, probably from b.c. 255 to 253. He occupied himself 
Rei^uofAr- ^^^^^^7 ^^ Consolidating his dominion over the 
eaces I., about Parthians themselves, many of whom resisted his 

15 c 255—253 . J J 

authority. Antiochus Theus, wliose rule he had 
subverted, seems to have made no effort to recover his hold 
on Parthia, being too much engaged in his war with Ptole- 
my Philadelphus. (See p. 251.) Arsaces, however, appears 
to have fallen in battle. 

4. The first Arsaces was succeeded by his brother, Teri- 
dates, who had assisted him in his original revolt. He took 
Reign of Arsa- the title of Arsaccs after his brother's death; and 
daleYLSout ^^^^ practice thus begun passed into a custom, 
B.C. 253-216. which continued to the very close of the empire. 
Teridates, or Arsaces H., reigned thirty-seven years, from 
B.C. 253 to 216. He made himself master of Hyrcania, prob- 
ably about B.C. 240, thereby drawing upon himself the hos- 
tility both of Seleucus Callinicus, whom he deprived of a 
province, and of Diodotus I. of Bactria, who became alarmed 
at the increasing power of his neighbor. Callinicus and Di- 
odotus, accordingly, made common cause ; and the former 
led an expedition against Teridates, b.c. 237, which alarmed 



612 PAKTHIA. [book v. 

him so that at first he fled from Parthia into Scythia. Dio- 
dotus I., however, dying and being succeeded by his son, 
Diodotus II., Teridates found a means of breaking up the 
alliance, and drew over the Bactrian prince to his side.* A 
great battle followed ; and, Callinicus being signally defeat- 
ed, Parthian independence was regarded as at length fully 
established. 

In Justin's Epitome of the History of Trogus Pompeius the acts of the 
first and second Arsaces are assigned to a single monarch. He is to be cor- 
rected from Syncellus, who followed Arrian. 

5. Teridates was succeeded by a son, whose real name is 
unknown, but who reigned as Arsaces III. Pursuing the 
^ . , . aijorressive policy of his father, he overran East- 
ces III., about ern Media, and threatened to conquer the entire 

province, about b.c. 214. Antiochus the Great, 
upon this, marched against him (b.c. 213), drove his troops 
from Media, took his capital, Hecatompylus, and pursuing 
him into Hyrcania, there brought him to an engagement, 
the issue of which was doubtful. Arsaces greatly distin- 
guished himself; and the Syrian monarch, finding the con- 
quest of the new kingdom impossible, came to terms with 
his foe, confirming him in the possession of both Parthia and 
Hyrcania, but probably requiring him to furnish a contin- 
gent to his projected Eastern expedition, b.c. 206. It is un- 
certain how long Arsaces III. lived after this ; but the best 
authorities assign him a reign of about twenty years — from 
B.C. 216 to 196. 

6. Priapatius (Arsaces IV.) now became king, and reigned 
for fifteen years — from about b.c. 196 to 181. He appears 
EeignofPria- to have been an un warlike prince, and to have 
cesiv.),^b^out ^een content with maintaining, without any at- 
B.0. 196-181. tempt to extend, his dominions. The Bactrian 
monarchs of this period were aggressive and powerful (see 
pp. 343, 344), which may in part account for this pause in 
the Parthian conquests. Priapatius left two sons, Phraates 
and Mithridates, the former of whom succeeded him. 

7. Phraates I. (Arsaces Y.) had a short reign, probably 
from about b.c. 181 to 174. Nothing is known of him ex- 
Reign of Phra- cepting that he extended his dominions by the 
cerv.)Jtbout conquest of the Marcli, one of the most powerful 
B.0.181-1T4 tribes of the Elburz, and, though he had many 



PART 11., PER. II.] FOUNDATION OF THE EMPIRE. g13 

children, left his crown to his brother, Mithridates, whom he 
regarded as peculiarly fitted for the kingly office. Mithri- 
dates justified this opinion by the extensive conquests of 
which an account will be given in the next section. He 
transformed the small kingdom which he received from 
Phraates into a vast and flourishing empire, and established 
the governmental system on which that empire was thence- 
forth administered. 

SECOND PERIOD. 

From the Foundation of the Empire hy Mithridates 1., about b.c. 174, to the 
Commencement of the Wars with the Romans, B.C. 54. 

1. The Parthian dominion had hitherto been confined to a 
comparatively narrow territory between the Caspian Gates 
ReicrnofMith- ^" ^^^® ^^^^ hand and the districts of Aria (Herat) 
lidates I. (Ar- and Margiana (Merv) upon the other. The neigh- 
about b.c.'i74- boring Bactria, with its Greek princes (see pp. 342 
-344) and its semi-Greek civilization, had been a 
far more powerful state, and had probably acted as a con- 
stant check upon the aspirations of its weaker sister. Con- 
scious of their weakness, the Parthian monarchs had culti- 
vated good relations Avith the Bactrians ; and, so far as ap- 
pears, no war had hitherto broken out between the conter- 
minous powers. But with the accession of Mithridates I. 
(Arsaces VI.) this state of things came to an end. The Bac- 
trian princes were about this time directing their arms to- 
wards the East, bent on establishing their authority in Afi*- 
ghanistan and North-western India. It would seem that 
while their main strength was employed in this quarter, the 
provinces nearer home were left without adequate defense, 
and tempted the cupidity of the Parthians. Mithridates I, 
who was contemporary with Eucratides of Bactria, began 
aggressions on the Bactrian kingdom, probably soon after 
his accession. Success attended his efforts, and he deprived 
Eucratides of at least two provinces. A few years later, on 
the death of Antiochus Epij^hanes, b.c. 164, he turned his 
arms against the West. After a protracted struggle, he suc- 
ceeded in reducing Media to obedience. He then conquered 
Susiana, Persia, and Babylonia, extending his dominion on 
this side as far as the lower course of the Euphrates. Nor 
did these gains content him. After the death of Eucratides 



614 PARTHIA. [book v. 

(about B.C. 160), he resumed his war with the Bactrians, and 
completely destroyed their kingdom. In vain did these un- 
fortunately isolated Greeks implore the help of their Syrian 
brethren. Demetrius Nicator, who in b.c. 140 endeavored to 
relieve them, was defeated and made prisoner by Mithrida- 
tes, who retained him in captivity till his own death, about 
B.C. 136. 

The Indian conquests of Mithridates I., which rest on the authority of Di- 
odorus and Orosius, are extremely doubtful. Trogus appears to have known 
nothing of them. 

2. The satrapial system, which had been introduced by 
the Persians, and continued by Alexander and his successors, 
Organization was not that adopted by Mithridates in the or- 
of the empire, ganization of his empire. On the contrary, he re- 
verted to the older and simpler plan, which prevailed in the 
East before the rise of the Persians to power. This was to 
allow each nation to have its own native king, its own laws 
and usages, and simply to require the subjection of all these 
monarchs to the chief of the ruling nation as lord paramount, 
or feudal head. Hence the title " King of Kings," so com- 
mon on the Parthian coins from the time of Mithridates. 
Each " king " was bound to furnish a contingent of troops 
when required, and likewise an annual tribute ; but other- 
wise they were independent. 

3. The constitution under which the Parthians themselves 
were ruled was a kind of limited monarchy. The king was 
Constitution permanently advised by two councils, one consist- 
ofParthia. |^^g ^f ^j-^^ members of his own royal house, the 
other of the great men (/ley lardveg), corn-prising both the tem- 
poral and spiritual chiefs of the nation (the ao(l)ot and the /za- 
yoi). The monarchy was elective, the kings, however, being 
necessarily taken from the family of the Arsacidae. When 
the 7)iegistanes had nominated a monarch, the right of plac- 
ing the diadem on his head belonged to the surena, or field- 
marshal. The megistanes claimed a right to depose a mon- 
arch who displeased them ; but any attempt to exercise this 
privilege was sure to lead to a civil war, and it was force, 
not law, which determined whether the prince should retain 
or forfeit his crown. 

4. The Parthians affected, in the main, Persian customs. 
The same state and dignity were maintained by the Arsaci- 



PABT II., PER. II.] WAKS WITH SYRIA. 615 

dse as bv the Achsemenidse. The Court migrated 

Manners and -,.^. /. ^i , r^^ • u x? 

customs, art, at difiereiit seasons of the year to Ctesipnon, Jb.c, 
^*^' batana, aud Ilyrcania. Polygamy was practised 

on a large scale, not only by the monarch, but by the nobles. 
Luxury, however, was at no time carried to the same extent 
by the Parthians as it had been by the Persians ; the former 
continued to the last a rude, coarse, vigorous people. In 
some few respects they adopted Greek manners, as in the 
character of their coins and the legends upon them, which 
are Greek from first to last, and evidently imitated from the 
coins of the Seleucidoe. Their mimetic art shows also Gre- 
cian influences ; but it never attained to any high degree of 
excellence. 

5. The founder of the Empire, Mithridates I, was succeed- 
ed upon the throne by his son, Phraates II., who is known 
Rei?nofPhra. as Arsaces VII., and reigned about nine or ton 
cS vn.),t'.o!" years, from about b.c. 136 to 127. The earlier 
136-12T.' ' ■ " part of his reign seems to have been quiet and 
peaceful; but about b.c. 129, Antiochus Sidetes, who reigned 
over Syria, undertook an expedition to the East for the pur- 
pose of releasing his brother Demetrius, and humbling the 
pride of the Parthians. Success at first attended his efibrts. 
Phraates w^as defeated in three battles, and Babylonia was 
recovered by the Syrians. A general disposition to revolt 
showed itself among the Parthian feudatories. Phraates, 
reduced to straits, released Demetrius and sent him into 
Syria (see p. 258), while at the same time he invoked the aid 
of the Turanian hordes who bordered his northern frontier. 
Before these allies, however, could arrive, he had brought 
the Syrian monarch into difiiculties, attacked and overpow- 
ered his army in its winter-quarters, and slain Sidetes him- 
self in a battle. He now determined to invade Syria ; but 
the Turanians, whose aid he had invoked, discontented Avith 
their treatment, attacked him. A war with these nomads 
followed, in which Phraates was unsuccessful. His army, 
composed in part of captured Greeks, played him false ; and 
he himself fell in the fight, about b.c. 127. 

6. On the death of Phraates II., his uncle, Artabanus, w^as 
placed upon the throne. The Syrian wars now entirely 
ceased, no efibrt being made by the Seleucidae, after the 
death of Sidetes, to recover their Eastern provinces. But 



616 PARTHIA. [book v. 

... the place of this enemy was taken by one more 
banus (Arsa- formidable, ihe iuranian races ol the tract be- 
about b.'c' 12T yond the Oxus had been long increasmg in pow- 
~^"'** er. Their incursions across the river, in some of 

which they reached Hyrcania and Parthia Proper, were con- 
stant. We have seen that Phraates II., alarmed at the at- 
tack of Sidetes, called them in to his aid, and afterwards lost 
his life in a war with them. The same fate befell his succes- 
sor. In an engagement with a Turanian tribe called Tocha- 
ri, he received a wound in his arm, from the effects of which 
he died, about b.c. 124. 

7. Artabanus was succeeded by his son, Mithridates II., 
who is known as Arsaces IX. He was a warlike and power- 
Rei nofMith- **^^^ prince, whosc achievements procured him the 
ridatesii.(Ar- epithet of " the Great." He effectually quelled 
about B.c.'i24 the Spirit of the northern nomads, whom he de- 
"^ ■ feated in several engagements ; and, in a long 
series of wars, he extended the Parthian power in many di- 
rections. At length he engaged in a contest with the Ar- 
menian king, Ortoadistes (Artavasdes?), who was compelled 
to a disadvantageous peace, for his observance of which he 
gave hostages, among them Tigranes, a prince of the blood 
royal. Tigranes induced the Parthian monarch to aid him 
in gaining the Armenian throne, by undertaking to cede to 
him a part of Armenia ; and this cession took place about 
B.C. 96. But here the successes of Mithridates came to an 
end. Tigranes, having become king of Armenia, declared 
war against his benefactor, recovered the ceded territory, 
invaded Parthia itself, conquered Adiabene, and forced the 
kings of Atropatene and Gordyene to become his tributaries, 
about B.C. 90 to 87. (See p. 339.) Soon after this Mithri- 
dates seems to have died, after a reign which must have ex- 
ceeded thirty-five years. 

The first contact of the Parthians with the Romans occun-ed in this reign, 
Mithridates's envoy, Orobazus, having had an interview with Sulla, the Sena- 
torian commissioner in Asia, b.c. 92. 

8. It is uncertain who was the immediate successor of 
Mithridates II. The list of Trogus, as reported by Justin, is 
here faulty; and from the incidental notices of other writ- 
ers, the succession of the kings can only be determined 
conjecturally. It is usual to place after Mithridates II. a 



PART II., PER. II.] ALLIANCE WITH ROME. G] Y 

Uucertainsuc- certain Mnasciras, wlio is mentioned by Lucian 
posedreigt"of ^"^^ ^ ^ai'tliian nionarcli. But tliere is no evidence 
Mutisciras that Mnasciras followed immediatelu after Mithri- 

(Arsaces X.), i , tt .it • i , . 

about 1J.C. 87- elates 11., 01' even that he rejgned at this period. 
^^' The next king whom we can positively place after 

Mithridates II. is Sanatroeces, who mounted the throne about 
B.C. 76. 

9. Sanatroeces (Arsaces XL), at the age of eighty, became 
king of Parthia by the assistance of the Sacaraucae, one of 
Reign of sa- ^^^^ Turanian tribes of the north. He reigned 
natroeces, 1J.C. scvcn yeai'S Only, from about b.c. 76 to 69. He 

was contemporary with Tigranes of Armenia and 
Mithridates of Pontus, and seems to have been engaged in 
war with the former; but the particulars of this contest are 
unknown. 

The name of this king appears in the classical writers under various forms, 
as Sintruces, Sintricus, and Sinatruces. But the native form, as appears by a 
coin, is Sanatroeces (^avaTpoLKTjg). 

10. Phraates, son of Sanatroeces, succeeded him, and took 
the title of Gfdc ("God"). Ascending the throne at the 
Eeign of Phra- moment when the Mithridatic War entered on a 
Ss xii.)fi.a' i^<^w phase, the losses of the Pontic monarch hav- 
69-Go. ijjg forced him to seek a refuge in Armenia (see 
p. 333), and Rome being about to transfer the struggle into 
this quarter, he was naturally drawn into the contest. Both 
sides sought his alliance ; but it was not till Pompey took 
the direction of the war, b.c. 66, that the Parthian monarch 
desisted from an attitude of neutrality. He then made an 
alliance with the Romans, and while Pompey pressed Mith- 
ridates with all his forces, Phraates made an attack upon Ti- 
granes. The diversion determined the Mithridatic War in 
favor of Rome ; but, as usual, when her object was gained, 
the great republic repaid assistance with ingratitude. Ti- 
granes was, in b.c. 65, aided by the Romans against Phraa- 
tes. The province of Gordyene, which Phraates had recov- 
ered, was retaken by the Romans and assigned to Armenia. 
It was in vain that the Parthian king remonstrated. Pom- 
pey was inexorable ; and Phraates, about b.c. 63, came to 
terms with Tigranes. Shortly afterwards (b.c. 60) he died, 
poisoned, as was reputed, by his two sons, Mithridates and 
Orodes. 



618 ' PARTHIA. [book v. 

By the results of the Mithridatic War, the Roman and Parthian Empires 
became conterminous. Rome absorbed Syria (see p. 2G1), which bordered on 
the Parthian province of Mesopotamia, the Euphrates flowing between them. 
Hence colhsion between the two great powers became imminent. 

11. Mithridates, the elder of the two sons of Phraates III., 
succeeded him. Tigraiies I. havnig died in Armenia, and 
„ . .,,.,, Artavasdes, liis second son, having^ seized the 

Reign of Mith- nr- i -t i t • 

rjdatesiii. thi'onc, Mithridatcs became ens^ao'ed in a war 

(Arsaces . . 

xiiL),i!.o.co- with Armenia on behalf of his brother-in-law, Ti- 
^^* granes, the eldest son of the late king. His ef- 

forts, however, were unsuccessful, and had no eftect but to 
alienate Artavasdes. After a reign of a few years, Mithri- 
dates was deposed by the Parthian nobles (see § 3) ; and, 
though he maintained himself for some considerable time in 
J3abyIon, he Avas at last captured and put to death. Oro- 
des, his brother, whom the Parthians had made king in his 
room, succeeded him, about b.c. 55. 



THIRD PERIOD. 

From the Commencement of the Wars with Rome, B.C. 54, to the Destruction 
of the Parthian Empire hy the Persians, a.d. 22G. 

1. The aggressive policy systematically pursued by the 
Roman Republic rendered a war with Parthia the natural 
KeifrnofOro- sequcl to the victories over Mithridates and Ti- 
cesxiv.)!'^' granes. The struggle with these princes had re- 
cSssus ^b"o^^ vealed to Rome the existence of an Oriental pow- 
54^3. ' er greater and richer than either Pontus or Ar- 

menia ; and the jealousy, as well as the cupidity, of the re- 
public was stirred by the revelation. No special grounds 
of complaint or quarrel were regarded as necessary before 
the war could be commenced. It was enough that the time 
had arrived when it seemed to be for the interest of Rome 
to increase her empire at the expense of Parthia. War was 
declared without even a pretext, b.c, 55, and in the following 
year Crassus attacked Orodes. 

The faikire of the expedition of Crassus (see p. 487) was owing, in part to 
his age and incapacity, in part to an undue contempt of the Parthian prowess. 
It was only by bitter experience that the Romans learnt to respect the Par- 
thians as soldiers, and to regard them as greatly superior to most other 
Orientals. 



TAUT n., PKU. III.] WARS WITH HOME. G19 

2. The immediate result of the disastrous expedition of 
Crassus was the advance of the Parthians across the Eu- 
Parthiauex- phratcs. In B.C. 52, and again in the year after, 
peditious into pncorus, the SOU of Orodes, at the head of a large 

Syria, n.<;. 52- -^ ""^ ' , t n i^ir *. 

51, and 40-3S, and well-appoHited army, crossed irom Mesopota- 
mia into Syria, and ravaged the Roman territory far and 
wide. Upper Syria was overrun, Cilicia invaded, Antioch 
and Antigoneia threatened, the Roman general, Bibulus, de- 
feated. Cassius, however, gained certain successes ; and sus- 
picion having been thrown upon the loyalty of Pacorus, Oro- 
des recalled him, and withdrew his troops within the Eu- 
phrates. But eleven years later he made a second advance. 
Once more Pacorus, this time assisted by the Roman refu- 
gee, Labienus, crossed the Euphrates, b.c. 40, and invaded 
the' Syrian presidency. A Roman army, under Decidius 
Saxa, was destroyed ; Antioch, Apameia, Sidon, Ptolemais, 
were occupied ; Jerusalem was entered and plundered, and 
Antigonus set, as Parthian viceroy, upon the throne (see p. 
354). The Parthians were complete masters of Syria, Phoe- 
nicia, and Palestine ; and proceeded to invade Asia Minor, 
occupying the whole south coast, as far as Caria, and send- 
ing their plundering bands into Ionia and the Roman 
"Asia." At this point, however, their progress was stayed, 
and reverses began to befall them. Ventidius defeated and 
slew Labienus in B.C. 39, and gained a similar success over 
Pacorus in the next year. The Parthians retired from Syria, 
never to reoccupy it, and henceforth were content to resist 
the attacks and aggressions of the Romans. ^ 

3. The death of Orodes followed closely upon this defeat, 
B.C. 37. He either died of grief for the loss of Pacorus, or 
was murdered by Phraates, the son whom he had 
SSandacces- put forward as his successor when he heard of 
?eriv!,^i!!r" Pacorus's decease. Phraates IV. succeeded him, 
fionofTnt'- and reigned as Arsaces XV. Against him Anto- 
uy,B.o.3G. • jjy^ ij^ JJ.C. 36, led his great expedition. (For this, 
see p. 501.) Once more on Parthian soil the Romans Avere 
completely baffled ; and the retreat of Antony was almost 
as disastrous as that of the army of Crassus. The Parthian 
power issued from these early contests with Rome intact ; 
each side held its own ; and it seemed as if the Euphrates 
was to be a permanent barrier which the Terminus of nei- 
ther nation could cross. 



620 TARTHIA. [book v. 

4. An uninteresting period of the Parthian history now 
sets in. Rome and Parthia abstain equally from direct at- 
Duii period of tacks upon cach other, while each endeavors to 
S-^^^ffom^B!c. obtain a predominant influence in Armenia, which 
30 to A.D. 114. alternately leans on one or other of the two pow- 
ers. Troubles are excited by the Romans within the Par- 
thian royal family ; and almost every reign exhibits one or 
more pretenders to the throne, who disturb and sometimes 
expel the legitimate monarch. This period lasted 150 years 
— from the retreat of Antony, e.g. 36, to the sixteenth year 
of Trajan, a.d. 114. It is unnecessary to do more than brief- 
ly indicate the succession of the kings during this space. 

Line of Kings from Phraates IV. to CnosRoiis, b,c. 37 to a.d. 107. 
Phraates IV. (Arsaces XV.) reigned from B.C. 37 to a.d. 4. He was an- 
noyed by a pretender named Tiridates, Avhom Augustus encouraged, and was 
finally murdered by his female slave, Thermusa, whom he had married. 
Phraataces, the son of Phraates IV. and this Thermusa, succeeded as Arsa- 
ces XVI. He reigned only a few months, being put to death by the Parthi- 
ans, who gave the crown to a certain Orodes, a member of the royal family, 
whose exact relationship to the preceding monarchs is unknown. Orodes II. 
(Arsaces XVII.) reigned, like Phraataces, for a few months only, being put 
to death about a.d. 5, on account of his cruelty. The Parthians then sent to 
Rome for Vonones, the eldest of the sons of Phraates IV., who was sent to 
them by Augustus, and ruled from about a.d. G to 14, as Arsaces XVIII., 
when he was compelled to yield his crown to another member of the royal 
ftvmily, Artabanus. Artabanus II. (Arsaces XIX.) held the throne from 
about A.D. 14 to 44. His reign was stormy, troubled by a revolt of the Bab- 
ylonian Jews, by pretenders whom Tiberius supported, and by rebellions of 
the tributary monarchs. At his death, war broke out between two of his 
sons, Gotarzes and . Vardanes, who both claimed the kingdom. Vardanes, 
the younger, was siTCcessful after a sharp struggle, and reigned as Arsaces 
XX., from about a.d. 44 to 48, when Gotarzes renewed the fight, and the 
Parthians, deserting Vardanes, slew him and made Gotarzes king. Gotarzes 
(Arsaces XXI.) held the throne from a.d. 48 to 50. The chief event of his 
reign was a war with the pretender Meherdates, son of Vonones I., who was 
supported by the Romans, but fell after a short contest. Gotarzes himself 
died soon afterwards, probably by a natural death. The next king was Vo- 
nones II. (Arsaces XXII.). He was a member of the royal family, and had 
governed Media Atropatene under Gotarzes, but seems not to have been a 
near relation. His reign, which lasted only a few months, was unmarked by 
any unimportant event. Vologeses I. (Arsaces XXIIL), the eldest of his 
sons, succeeded him. He reigned for the space of forty years, from about 
A.D. 50 to 90, and was contemporary with eight Roman emperors — Claudius, 
Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian. The conten- 
tion between Rome and- Parthia, with respect to supremacy over Armenia, 
came to a head during his reign, when his brother, Tiridates, to Avhom he 



PAiiT II., riiK. in.] WARS WITH HOME. 621 

had given the Armenian crown, was so harassed by the Romans— more espe- 
cially by Nero's general, Corbulo, a.d. 5G to G4— that he consented at last to 
renounce his allegiance to ParU^a, and to accept the Armenian kingdom 
from Nero, wbich he heM thenceforth as a Roman fief, a.u. G5. After this, . 
Parthia remained at peace with Rome for nearly half a century, and very lit- 
tle is known of its condition. Vologeses seems to have died about a.d. 90. 
He left two sons, Facorus and Chosroes, the elder of whom, Pacorus, suc- 
ceeded him. Pacorus (Arsaces XXIV.), who succeeded Vologeses, reigned 
from about a.d. 90 to 107. Nothing is known of him except that he beauti- 
fied Ctesiphon. He was succeeded, about a.d. 107, by his brother Chosroes, 
in whose reign the Parthian history again becomes important and interesting. 

5. Chosroes (Arsaces XXy.),on obtaining the crown, pro- 
ceeded almost immediately to assert the authority of Par- 
Reign of - thia over Armenia by deposing the reigning mon- 
S'cS xxv^r -^^'ch, Exedares, and placing his nephew, Partha- 
l^D. 101-121.'^ masiris, the son of Pacorus, npon the Armenian 
Tnyau'.^''''' "^ throne. This act furnished an excuse to Trajan 
for his Eastern expedition, a part of his great scheme of 
conquest. (See p. 544.) The earlier operations of the Ro- 
man emperor were altogether successful ; he deprived Par- 
thamasiris of his kingdom, and made Armenia a Pvoman 
province without a struggle ; he rapidly overran Mesopota- 
mia and Assyria, taking the cities one after another, and add- 
ed those countries to the empire ; he pressed southward, took 
Seleuceia, Ctesiphon, and Babylon, descended the Tigris to 
the sea, and received the submission of Mesene, the tract 
upon the Persian Gulf. In another direction his arms pene- 
trated as far as Susa. But it was easier to conquer than to 
hold, lievolts broke out in the countries already occupied, 
at Seleuceia, at Edessa, at Nisibis, at Hatra, and elsewhere. 
Trajan felt that he must retire. To cover the ignominy of 
his retreat, he held an assembly at Ctesiphon, and placed his 
more southern conquests under the sovereignty of a mock 
king, a native named Parthamaspates. His other conquests, 
Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Assyria, he maintained and 
strongly garrisoned. But they continued Roman for only 
about'two years (a.d. 115 to 11 7). The first act of Hadrian 
was to relinquish the whole results of the Parthi- 
SJaudSby an war (^fcrajan, and to withdraw the legions 
Hadrian. ^,.^^.^ the line of the Euphrates (see p. 546). 
Chosroes returned to his capital, Parthamaspates quitting it 
and falling back on his Roman friends, who made him king 



622 FARTIIIA. [book v. 

of Armenia. The Parthian empire was restored to its old 
limits; and friendly relations subsisted between Chosroes 
and Hadrian until the death of the former, probably about 
A.D. 121. 

6. The successor of Chosroes was his son, Yologeses II. 

(Arsaces XXVI.), who reigned from about a.d. 121 to 149. 

,,, , He kept the peace with Rome throughout the 

KeignofVolo- «,.. , , i t 

geses the lid wholc of his reign, though sorely tempted to in- 
xxviTh), A?D. terfere with the affairs of Armenia, which had re- 
i2i-i4y. verted to the position of a Roman hef He was 

contemporary with Antoninus Pius. The only important 
event of his reign was an invasion of Media Atropatene by 
the Alani, who were becoming formidable in the tract be- 
tween the Black Sea and the Caspian. Vologeses bribed 
these enemies to retire. 

1. His successor was another Yologeses, the third of the 
name, who was probably his son. He reigned from about 
Reign of voio- A.D. 149 to 192. During the lifetime of Antoni- 
fSsac^s^t™ n^^s Pius, he remained at peace with the Romans; 
xxviith), "but soon after the accession of M. Aurelius (b.c. 

about A.i^.l49- . .^ 

102. 161) he provoked a war by invading Armenia for 

the purpose of severing its connection with Rome. At the 
outset he was successful; Armenia was occupied; Severi 
anus, Roman prefect of Cappadocia, was defeated, his army 
destroyed, and he himself slain ; the Parthian hordes once 
more crossed the Euphrates, and carried devastation into 
Syria; but their triumph was short-lived. Verus was sent 
to the East ; and though individually he did nothing, yet 
his generals gained great advantages. The Parthians were 
driven from Syria and Armenia; Mesopotamia was occu- 
pied ; Seleuceia, Ctesiphon, and Babylon taken ; and the 
royal palace at Ctesiphon burnt (a.d. 165). Parthia then 
sued for peace, and obtained it by ceding Mesopotamia, and 
allowing Armenia to return to the position of a Roman de- 
pendency (see p. 551). Vologeses, thus humbled, remained 
quiet during his later years, living on friendly terms with 
M. Aurelius and with Commodus. ^^ 

8. Vologeses III. left two sons, ^^fcgeses and Tiridates, 
of whom the elder, Vologeses, succeeded him. This prince, 
having unfortunately attached himself to the cause of 
Pescennius Niger, a.d. 193, was attacked by the Roman em^ 



PART II., I'EK. III.] FALL OF THE EMFIllE. 623 

Reign of voio- peror, Septimiiis Severns, after he had defeated 
f^rsaces^l^J^ Niger, and suffered important reverses. The Ro- 
S^ut"D.^i92 ^^^^ army advanced through Mesopotamia to the 
-213. Tigris, crossed into Assyria, and occupied Adia- 

bene, descended the river in ships to Ctesiphon, which it took 
aiid pjpndered, captured also Seleuceia and Babylon, and re- 
turned without suffering any worse defeat than a double re- 
pulse from the walls of Hatra. The only permanent fruit of 
the campaign was, however, the addition of Adiabene, or 
Northern Assyria, to the empire, which the Partliian mon- 
arch Avas forced to cede to his adversary, a.d. 199. Nothing 
more is known of Vologeses IV., excepting that he left sev- 
eral sons, and that he reigned till about a.d. 212 or 213. 

Some Avriters (as Clinton) interpose between Vologeses III. and IV. a cei-- 
tain Pacorus, whose name exists upon a coin, with a date equivalent to a.d. 
198. But as it seems certain from Dio that a Vologeses, and not a Pacorus, 
Avas the opponent of Severus in that year, and almost certain that this same 
Vologeses lived on into the reign of Caracallus, we must regard Pacorus as a 
pretender, who, when Vologeses IV. was driven from his capital, claimed the 
throne. 

9. Upon the death of Vologeses IV., a contention arose 
between his sons with respect to the succession, which seems 
Reign ofvoio- to havc fallen, after a short struggle, to another 
flrsace^th? Vologescs, who was king when Caracallus, wish- 
SJif 1^^.213 i"S to pick a quarrel with Parthia, sent to de- 
-210. mand the surrender of two refugees, Tiridates 
and Antiochus. Vologeses at first refused ; but, when he 
was threatened with invasion, yielded, a.d. 215. Soon after 
this he must have ceased to reign, for we find Caracallus, in 
A.D. 216, negotiating with Artabanus. 

10. Artabanus (Arsaces XXX.), the last king of Parthia, 
is thought to have been a son of Vologeses IV. and a broth- 
Reign of Ar- er of Vologeses V. He reigned from a.d. 215 
iiw^Ars^c^es or 216 to 226. Caracallus, bent on a Parthian 
aboift™'2i5 campaign, in which he was 1Bo rival Alexander, 
l22G.De- gei;it, in A.D. 216, to demand the daughter of Ar- 

struction of / ■ ? *— * 

the empire. tabanus in marriage. Artabanus refused, and 
Caracallus immediately crossed the Euphrates, took pos- 
session of Osrhoene, proceeded through Mesopotamia to the 
Tigris, invaded Adiabene, took Arbela, and drove the Par- 
thians into the mountains. He then returned to Edessa in 



624 PARTHIA. Tbooic v, 

Osrhoene, and was proceeding in the year, following to re- 
new his attack, when he was murdered by order of Macri- 
nus, his praetorian prefect. Macrinus then carried on the 
war for a short time, but, being twice defeated by Artaba- 
nus near Nisibis, he was content to purchase peace by the 
expenditure of a large sum of money and the surrelMer 'of 
all the Roman possessions beyond the Euphrates, The do- 
minions of the Parthians were thus once more extended to 
their ancient limits, and Artabanus had even reclaimed and 
exercised the old Parthian suzerainty over Armenia, by ap- 
pointing his own brother to be king, when suddenly an in- 
surrection broke out in the south. The Persians, under Ar- 
taxerxes, the son of Sassan, rebelled, after four centuries of 
subjection, against their Parthian lords, defeated the forces 
of Artabanus in three great battles, and in the third slew 
that king himself. The Parthian empire came thus sudden- 
ly to an end,A.D. 226, when it had given few signs of internal 
decay or weakness. It was succeeded by the Kew Persian 
Monarchy, or Kingdom of the Sassanidae, which lasted from 
A.D. 226 to 652. 

This revolution was a recovery by tlie old Arian race of the supremacy so 
long wielded by the Tatars. It was accompanied by a complete change in 
the government and the religion. The new Persian kingdom had important 
relations with Home during almost the whole period of its continuance ; but, 
as these relations were chiefly with the Eastern empire, whose history the 
design of this work does not include, no account will be here given of tho 
Sassanian dynasty. Those who wish for information on the subject will find 
it in the following works : 

RiciiTEE, C. F., Historisch-Kritischer Versuch, etc. (see p. 654). 

Malcolm, Sir J., History of Persia. London, 1815 ; 2 vols. 4to. 

De Sacy, S., Memoires sur diverses Antiquites de la Perse, et sur les Me- 
dailles des Sassanides, avec Vhistoire des Sassanides par Mirkhond. Paris, 
1793; 4to. 

D'Herbelot, Bihliotheque Orientale ou Dictionnaire universe!, contenant 
tout ce qui fait connaitre les peuples de V Orient. Paris, 1781-83 ; 6 vols. 8vo. 

A brief outline of the history is given by Mr. Clinton in his Fasti Ro- 
mani, vol. ii. pp. 259-263 ; and a somewhat fuller account will be found in 
Dr. Smith's Diet, of Greek and Roman Biography, sub voc. SASSANID^. 



APPENDIX. 



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